Solace Before the Storm
by Way of the Sheikah
Summary: When the Reapers attacked, Aedan Shepard became the symbol of hope the galaxy needed. In private, when the curtains were drawn, he quietly suffered. That is, until she came back into his life. Now, as galactic civilization stands on the edge of annihilation, they lean on each other to keep going. Spoilers: content includes the new Citadel DLC. Cover art by *neehs on DeviantArt.
1. Picking Up the Pieces

**DISCLAIMER:**** I don't own Mass Effect, its characters or anything else associated with it. Everything belongs to BioWare and EA (unfortunately...). I'm simply paying tribute to one of the greatest universes in modern gaming history and my absolute favorite couple in the Mass Effect Trilogy (and gaming in general): Commander Shepard and Tali'Zorah vas Normandy.**

**Also, I don't own the cover image (just my author name and the story title, haha. Oh, and the image effects). It's by a lovely artist on DeviantArt named *neehs, and I'm simply using it because it's just that awesome (plus I think it matches the tone of this short collection in some chapters). Please go check out his work! **

**SPOILER WARNING: For those who have not had the pleasure of playing the new Citadel DLC, there are some major spoilers in this chapter and in future ones to come. Best skip to the next chapter (when it's released) if you want to remain in suspense. On that note, do yourself a favor and go download Citadel already. It's absolutely brilliant and a beautiful send-off to some of the most beloved characters ever!**

* * *

**-Picking Up the Pieces-**

**_-Present Day  
__Citadel, Silversun Strip, Tiberius Towers_**

Aedan Shepard felt a slight kick to his shin, but his sleep-addled senses barely registered it. His heavy eyelids fluttered open to a pitch black, quiet room. Instinctively, he started to rise. Instead, he felt the entire left side of his body ensnared by a familiar pair of arms. Arms, with three-fingered, gloved hands.

At first he thought he was back in his cabin aboard the _Normandy SR-2_, but then everything came back to him.

_Bedroom, fancy sheets and walls...Anderson's apartment, that's right. We're all on shore leave._

The unfamiliar words "shore leave" brought back a rush of memories. By this time, his mind was almost fully alert. He remembered it all.

_Oh yeah, that's right. That party Joker had more or less "suggested" I put together._

To say the small get-together he hosted for his crew had been a success would be a gross understatement. From Miranda and Jack's awkward sexual tension, watching Grunt turn curious neighbors away (and later end up in the shower a damp, rambling mess), watching James be lifted off of his feet by Liara's biotics, dancing with Tali, Garrus, and the rest of his friends...

In short, it had been one of the best nights of his life.

Another swift whack to his side, along with the pressure around his chest tightening like an old-fashioned letterpress, jarred him out of his thoughts.

Aedan grinned as he looked over at the sleeping quarian who had captured his heart. She was doing that thing again where she would unknowingly kick him in his sleep. It was annoying sometimes, but he never had it in him to bring it up when she was awake.

_She's too damned cute for her own good, _he thought with a wistful smile.

Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, the quarian admiral who not only helped her people reclaim their homeworld, but also now represented them as their unofficial ambassador, grumbled something incoherent in her sleep as she rolled over. She loosened her grip on Aedan just enough for him to slide out of her grasp. He gingerly sat up, gave his girlfriend a small peck on her visor where her cheek should be, and carefully lowered his feet to the wooden floor.

He really needed some water; his throat felt drier than the wastelands of Tuchanka.

Padding along the floor on the balls of his feet, he walked as silently as he could through the master bedroom. He muffled a few curses when he tripped over a dozen beer bottles someone had left lying around. To his relief, Tali didn't so much as stir.

Aedan tiptoed into the darkened bathroom, listening to the bubbling of the luxurious Jacuzzi as he shut the door. He turned on the light, grabbed a cup off the sink, and poured himself some crisp, cold water.

He delightfully sighed as he put the cup back down; his throat refreshed. He turned the water back on to splash some water on his face. The cleansing liquid felt great against his pale complexion. He stared at his haggard appearance and the dark rings under his eyes as he reached for a towel.

His parents once mentioned, when he was young, that both sides of the family hailed from America, but he also had family lines tracing back to England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Italy, and even Belgium, supposedly. Not that he had ever seen any of those places, being a colonist kid and all.

_Nor will I, probably, thanks to recent events,_ he grimaced. He shoved that unpleasant thoughts back down into his subconscious before he could dwell on it further.

Aedan had inherited his father's rugged facial structure and thick brunette hair (which he kept trimmed to military regulations, though he did grow it out a bit so that he had short-bangs. He never was a fan of buzz cuts like some of the other recruits that enlisted with the Alliance). He had even grown a beard like his old man used to wear, in place of his usually clean-shaven face. But his gentle, azure eyes were his mother's. They had a touch of dullness to them now though; weary from nearly a decade of military service. It seemed like each time he looked at himself in the mirror, he recognized himself less and less.

_Not surprising, considering we're still at war..._

The thoughts started again. Those of Earth and Palaven, of Thessia and the countless other worlds that were being ravaged by the Reapers even now. Every second he spent staring at himself in the mirror, he knew the casualty count continued to climb in to the trillions and beyond. He practically fought Admiral Hackett and Anderson when they suggested he and the crew take some time for a little shore leave on the Citadel.

* * *

**_-Several Days Ago  
Systems Alliance Frigate_ Normandy SR-2,_ War Room_**

_"Commander, I understand your concerns, but trust me when I say we need more time to gather the fleets for a swift strike against Cerberus' base of operations. That'll take awhile."_

_"But sir, what about the Crucible?" Shepard asked._

_"We have all the help we're going to get with the Crucible right now. Nothing else you can do will speed things up. It's all up to us now." _

_He paused for a moment, arms folded and a hand gripping his chin in thought. "Besides, I have a feeling that such a large concentration of our forces will alert the Reapers to our intentions. If that happens, we'll have no choice but to launch our final offensive against them. This very well might be the beginning of the end, Commander. And if that's the case, I need you and your crew fully rested and ready for duty. That includes the _Normandy_, too. While you're on the Citadel, I'll have an Alliance team finish retrofitting anything that wasn't finished on Earth. So until we send word, consider yourselves on shore leave. I heard Admiral Anderson has a nice apartment on the Citadel. He told me to tell you it's all yours now."_

_"But—"_

_"No 'but's,' Shepard. You've rallied the entire galaxy to the cause. You've done everything we've asked and more. N__ow go to the Citadel, and get some rest.__ That's an order, Commander. From me, and from Anderson. Hackett out."_

* * *

Aedan finally relented after that, albeit grudgingly. Though he hated to admit it, Hackett had been right. He needed this just as much as the crew did, especially after Thessia and Horizon. True, finding out that Cerberus had illegally cloned you and having to fight said-clone over your very identity and ship didn't exactly qualify as "relaxing" by civilian standards. But that was all in a day's work for the _Normandy_ crew. At least spending time with the crew the past few days had been enjoyable.

_Speaking of the crew..._

Curious, Aedan accessed the security footage in the entire apartment by using his mirror's built-in holographic interface. The system could be even linked directly to his omni-tool. What he saw had him covering his mouth, shaking from fits of laughter.

Zaeed, the hardass tough-as-nails mercenary, was curled up on the landing above the living room, cradling his treasured Lancer assault rifle he called "Jesse" in a death grip. Garrus was slumped up against the wall nearby, snoring loudly. Miranda and Jack were nowhere to be found, curiously enough (along with Kasumi, though Aedan wasn't surprised). However, he noticed that the door to the guest bedroom on the second floor was shut, most likely with Grunt still passed out inside the shower.

_What a wake-up call that'll be,_ he grinned.

Most of the crew (namely Liara, Kaiden, Jacob, Cortez, and James) had crashed on some of the couches and chairs on both floors. Joker was fast asleep on the couch near the piano, holding onto EDI, who was at least feigning sleep for Joker's sake. Interestingly enough, Specialist Traynor was at the foot of their couch, right near EDI. Aedan shuddered; he _really _didn't need to know why she was so close.

When he checked the final camera above the bar, he was amused to see that Wrex and Javik were still awake. The two of them were sitting with drinks in hand, talking quietly. The feed didn't have audio, but if their expressions were any indication, Aedan had a feeling they were swapping war stories.

He was glad Javik had become more open with the crew. He couldn't imagine what a culture shock waking up 50,000 years later must have been, especially when you find out the species you once thought of as "primitive" was ruling the galaxy.

_We got humans, an asari, a krogan, a turian, a quarian, an AI, and now even a Prothean all under one roof,_ Aedan grinned. _We're quite the group. And I wouldn't have it any other way._

After checking the time (4:52 AM Citadel time), Aedan stifled a yawn and shut off the bathroom light. Several memories, some from the hunt for Saren, and some more recent, flashed in his mind's eye as he slid back into the comfortable covers of the bed.

_It's funny,_ he thought, as he stared up at the ceiling. _Eight months ago we did the impossible and traveled though the Omega-4 Relay, wiped out the Collectors and their base, and came back alive with no casualties at all. If someone told me then we'd be where we are right now, I would have called them crazy. But then again, chasing after a rogue Spectre and fighting a Reaper wasn't exactly what I envisioned doing when I completed N7 training._

The subject of Sovereign and its Reaper brethren darkened his thoughts again. I_ thought we had more time to prepare; that the sacrifice I made in the Bahak System would have paid off far longer than six short months. _

He gave a remorseful sigh as he recalled Bahak, along with the 300,000 batarians he condemned to death by destroying the Alpha Relay. More than that, he thought about the fallout. He had been court-marshaled and confined to Alliance HQ on Earth. Not only that, but he was stripped of his rank and ship. His team, his _family_, was forced to disband.

It was his own personal hell.

Those six months, spent in near-isolation, had been some of the worst times of his life. The only thing that could compare was when Batarian slavers raided his home colony and slaughtered his parents and little sister. That had happened when he was only ten years old. Until Anderson and the original Normandy, he kept everyone at arm's reach. It wasn't until those excruciating few months in solitary that he realized just how much he depended on his friends. They truly were his family; his home.

To the galaxy at large he was the fearless Commander Shepard. Reaper-Killer. Collector-Destroyer. Hero of Elysium and the Citadel. Council Spectre. The last, best hope for humanity and the entire Milky Way.

If only they knew the real Shepard; the one with insecurities, survivor's guilt, PTSD, even a hard liquor problem. Karin Chakwas probably knew a few more things she could diagnose him with, but those were what immediately came to mind.

But that was Aedan. _Aedan_ wasn't Commander Shepard. Shepard was a symbol; an incorruptible force that had no limits. Shepard was the Paragon of his race; the best humanity had to offer the rest of the galaxy. Whenever he was in public, aboard the _Normandy_ or leading his crew through bullets and hell-fire, he was Commander Shepard.

Only a precious few individuals, ones he could count on one hand, knew the simple human known as Aedan. Only four of them truly knew _who_ he was, deep down. One was his best friend, brother in all but blood, and unofficial XO (despite his protests) all rolled into one. Two others were like a mother and father to him; one was at Huerta Memorial right now treating refugees, while the other was fighting on Earth. The final one; the one who mattered the most, was the angelic woman sleeping beside him.

Aedan, unlike Shepard, didn't know if the galaxy would survive the Reapers. But that was something he'd worry about later. For now, he would simply treasure the solace he can only find in the warm embrace of his quarian engineer. It was her opinion that he valued at the end of it all. Tali had seen almost every side of Aedan.

She had seen him at his best—laughing and joking with the crew, celebrating an impossible triumph over the Collectors with food, music and stories.

She had seen him at his worst—a bottle of whiskey in one hand, eyes bloodshot and wet with fresh tears. His M-6 Carnifex pistol near his trembling hand. The wall above the couch smoking from the fresh bullet lodged into it-

He took a chance by letting her inside his heart. She had come to know him far deeper than anyone else in his entire life since that day on Mindoir. And, despite his fear that she would leave him, like many others had before, she stayed. She stayed, and he loved her all the more for it.

_"Mmm...eeemergency, induction...port...awesome sauce..."_

Aedan couldn't help but chuckle. He kissed Tali's visor one more time before snaking his arms around her. He sighed as he felt her body instictively mold itself against his.

_No matter how horrid this war's been, at least it brought me back to her. _He smiled as he closed his eyes, burying his face into the pillows.

_For all the pain and misery I've endured since Eden Prime all those years ago, she's totally worth it._

* * *

**Well, not too bad for my first crack at the Mass Effect universe (at least I thought so. Let me know what you all thought in a review!). Honestly, I had a hard time with this one, as it more or less serves as an intro to the meatier stuff that I really want to write.**

**As you've probably figured out by now if you've played the new Citadel DLC, the "present" takes place just after the party in Shepard's swanky apartment. From here on, I'll be turning back the clock and examining moments in ME3 mainly centered around the relationship between Tali and my Shepard, Aedan (and yes, DA:O fans who played as a human noble will get the reference. What can I say? I love that game!). **

**So far I have this small story set at fifteen chapters, according to my outline. Originally I was going to simply write a one-shot, but then I played the new DLC, and ideas came to me... **

**Again, let me know what you guys think in a review. I'm hoping to post the next short within the next week, as its one of the ones I've been dying to put down into text, but please check my author profile for periodic progress updates. Thanks for reading, until next time! **

**-Sheik**


	2. Here Without You

**-Here Without You-**

**_-Five Weeks Ago (From Present Day)  
__Systems Alliance Frigate_ Normandy SR-2_, War Room_**

"Shepard, the _Normandy _will still be here if you're not on the bridge for a few hours."

"That's not the point, Garrus, I—"

"It **is** the point," Garrus growled, his mandibles twitching with irritation. "EDI told me you've been awake for the past thirty-six hours straight. It'll take us some time to get back to the DMZ's relay. Go catch some shut eye while you can."

"Garrus..."

"Am I gonna have to drag your ass up there myself? Because you know I will."

Aedan bit back a smartass retort. He hated being wrong. But then again, it wouldn't do for the _Normandy's_ captain to suddenly pass out, keel over and fall into the CIC's galaxy map. Though his mind was still raring to go, his body felt like it would collapse at any moment.

"Fine, you win," he groaned as he walked toward the conference room. "You have the bridge, Garrus. Have EDI or Joker let me know when we jump to FTL."

"Aye aye, _Commander_," he said with a mock salute and a smirk. Aedan rolled his eyes with a small smile as he walked out of the war room.

Garrus watched his old friend leave before he switched the comm. back on. The rest of the war room's staff had been rotated out, and Primarch Victus was eating a late dinner down in the mess, leaving Garrus alone to monitor the progress of the war.

"Did you hear all of that?" he said aloud as he resumed his work.

_"I did. Thanks for getting through to him, Garrus. He always was stubborn, even when we were hunting Saren. And don't worry, the elevator is heading up to Deck One."_

Garrus chuckled as a few particular moments came to mind. "No problem, Liara. I probably would have done it anyway. I swear, sometimes he forgets I'm his XO. Well, without all the paperwork and official Alliance crap that comes with it. Works for me."

_"Every time I try to talk to him, he's distant. Even Wrex noticed after we left Sur'kesh."_

"Not surprised, Wrex is more perceptive than he looks. At least Shepard's still the same crazy bastard he's always been in combat. Scored just as many headshots as me with that fancy Indra rifle you gave him."

_"Jealous, Garrus? I could probably get one commissioned for you, too."_

"Nah, I'll stick with my Mantis," Garrus grinned. "Can't beat the classics. I'm more curious about where he got that tactical cloak. That new omni-blade is something else, too. Think Kasumi had something to do with it?"

_"Perhaps,"_ Liara paused. _"Anyway, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks something's wrong. Ever since we met up on Mars, he's been distracted. I mean, I know the situation on Earth has him on edge, but that can't be all of it. Garrus, I wonder if—"_

"If you're about to mention who I _think _you're about to mention, then yeah. I'm one-hundred percent positive that she has something to do with it."

_"You think so?"_

"Absolutely," Garrus replied. "Liara, you weren't aboard the _Normandy_ when we were actively hunting the Collectors. He was a complete mess when he found me, almost as much as I was. I don't think either of us would have made it if we hadn't run into each other on Omega."

_"What do you mean?" _

"We'd go off to the nightclubs on Omega and the Citadel when on shore leave, and drown ourselves in booze. Finding out you've been dead for two years and that you were resurrected by a terrorist cell you fought to destroy can mess with your head a bit, I guess," he said sarcastically. "During missions, he was more unforgiving to people that pissed him off. Zaeed told me he stabbed an unarmed gunship engineer for the Blue Suns from behind when he was trying to get to me on Omega. Shocked him to death with his own tool; poor bastard didn't even know what hit him. Tell me Liara, does that sound like the Aedan Shepard we know?"

He could hear Liara gasp on the other side. _"I...I didn't know...I mean, when he came to Illium he seemed okay..."_

"That was because Tali was with us. When she came back, he finally started to calm down."

_"And you think she's the problem?"_

"I do," he cut her off. "Doesn't help we haven't heard from her in months. Shepard's done an admirable job holding it together considering the circumstances. I don't know many people who can end ancient feuds and the genophage at the same time."

_"I'll go talk to him in a few hours, make sure he slept at least."_

"I doubt you'll get much more out of him than I did. We're not the ones he needs right now."

_"But what else can we do, Garrus? Aedan's been searching for Tali in his spare time, even going as far as abusing his Spectre privileges. You know how much he hates pulling status on anyone. I've already tried to find the Migrant Fleet with my own resources, as constrained as they are right now, and still, nothing more than what we've heard in the news. If even the Shadow Broker can't reach her, we can't." _

"No, as much as I'd like to. The best thing we can do right now is be there when he needs us. But right now, Shepard needs Tali," Garrus sighed. "I can't imagine what he's going through, not having her around. Spirits, I can't even save my own _father and sister,_ let alone help the man I consider a brother!"

Garrus slammed both of his fists into the console and grit his teeth. "Damn this war..."

* * *

**_-Three Hours Later  
__Systems Alliance Frigate _Normandy SR-2_, Captain's Cabin_**

Stretched out on his bed, Aedan continued to stare at the stars outside the skylight, watching them drift by as the _Normandy_ made its way toward the Krogan DMZ's Mass Relay.

The stars used to be a source of comfort for him, ever since he was a child. As a marine he'd often stargaze whenever he was on patrol. Now though, they were a painful reminder of what was happening while he was holed up here, safe in the luxurious cabin Cerberus originally built for him.

He had tried to sleep, he really did. But it just wouldn't happen. Too many thoughts ran rampant through his mind. Thoughts of Earth, and all the other planets that were being decimated by the Reapers.

The worst part was, he couldn't do a goddamn thing about it. He couldn't save any of them.

_Some hero I'm supposed to be. I can bring two enemy races together and end a genetic curse that was a mistake to begin with. But I can't save all of those being harvested. All of those innocents..._

Thinking about Tuchanka brought forth another surge of pain in Aeden's heart. He freed the krogan, and helped Wrex fulfill his dream. And he was overjoyed that the Alliance now had full turian and krogan support when they made their move to retake Earth. But it had cost him a friend. A very dear friend.

_Mordin..._

Aedan knew there was a good chance any of them could die. Hell, it was a constant risk whenever he went into combat. Kaiden's brush with death at the hands of that Cerberus android on Mars had reawakened that fear.

It's one thing to watch casualty counts mount up on a datapad. But to actually have the war hit so close to home by taking the lives of one of his crew? One of his friends?

_**"No choice. Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong."**_

_I know, Mordin. But you still didn't deserve to die._

Liara and Garrus had both approached him with their condolences, but he didn't pay them much heed. Actually,ever since they came back aboard, both of them tried on multipe occasions to get him to open up, Liara especially. He knew they were only concerned, and he didn't want them to feel like he didn't care (they were two of his closest friends, after all). But there was a part of him that refused to allow him to lower his guard, even among friends.

He had to be the fearless Commander right now; for his crew, for Hackett. And especially for Anderson. This was the war they'd all been anticipating ever since Sovereign's demise, regardless if they were actually prepared or not. He tried to warn the galaxy as much as he could despite the Council shoving their collective heads up their asses and ignoring the signs. It wasn't enough.

Now, everyone looked to him for their salvation; the human Spectre once deemed delusional and a traitor for his brief association with Cerberus. This war was his burden, and he'd carry it with a shit-eating grin if it meant saving even one more life from the Reapers.

The war was bearable when he was on the ground, killing mindless husks, marauders, and other monstrosities the Reapers created. The battlefield was his arena, a place where he could actually influence the outcome. In space, against monstrous mechanical horrors that were miles tall and wide, the war was out of his hands.

He **_hated_** feeling helpless.

_"Shepard,"_ EDI's voice reverberated though the cabin's speakers. _"Forgive the interruption, but Dr. T'Soni has asked to visit you. Should I allow her access to your cabin?"_

"Is it important?"

_"She simply wishes to speak with you. Nothing more."_

He thought about it and came to a decision quickly. The guilt of turning away a friend ate away at his insides, but he couldn't bring himself to face her right now and pretend everything was fine.

"Denied. Tell her I'm sorry, but I'm still resting. I'll make it up to her later."

_"She understands, and says no hard feelings."_

"By the way, what's our ETA to the relay?"

_"Five hours, twenty two minutes, forty-nine seconds until we jump to FTL. Seven hours until we reach the Citadel."_

"Thanks, EDI. Wake me when we're near the relay. Also, do me a favor and have Specialist Traynor set up a rotation schedule so that the entire crew can get some rest."

_"She and Executive Officer Vakarian have already taken care of it. He also says that you should, quote, 'leave the captain stuff to him,' end quote. Pleasant dreams, Shepard."_

Shepard sighed as he turned over for the hundredth time. He had debated with himself a few times now since leaving the Citadel for Palaven whether to ask Karin for some sleeping pills, but he feared addiction. Pair it together with the bottles of levo rum, whiskey, and vodka locked up and stowed away in the mini-fridge below his office desk, and he wouldn't be sure if he'd ever wake up again.

Aedan felt a cold shiver rush through his body. _Tali would kill me if she knew, even if it isn't really mine. Especially after what happened last time..._

Thinking her name was all it took for the moisture to gather in his eyes again. He got up and looked over at the framed picture on his nightstand. A smiling couple was facing the camera, hugging closely and both looking at the camera. Though not many others could tell through the visor that obscured her face, Aedan could easily tell from the way her eyes sparkled that Tali was beaming behind her visor.

It was one of the few pictures of them together. Garrus took it on a whim with his omni-tool camera during the "after-party" they held on the _Normandy_ while it was being repaired in one of Illium's dry-docks (a favor from both Liara and Hackett. Off the record, of course).

They were inseparable at that point, and it was one of his favorite memories of them, topped only by the moment they confessed their feelings to each other in the drive core and that special night they finally became one before entering the Omega-4 Relay.

It wasn't just insomnia and the war that kept him away from his cabin as much as possible. When he was on the ground, in the CIC or the war room, he didn't have time to think about her.

_Where are you?_ he thought as his eyes finally started to feel heavy.

* * *

_"You can't be serious. You're not even part of the Alliance anymore, Aedan! They did nothing to help you against the Collectors. What do you owe those **bosh'tets**?" Tali asked from beneath the covers as she watched Aedan adjust the collar on his dress uniform so that it wouldn't choke him too much._

_He sighed again in exasperation. She still wouldn't let it go, even after discussing it last night._

_Tali's immune system had almost completely adapted to his physiology now that she spent so much time in his (__**their,**_ _he corrected himself) cabin. EDI kept the air filtered and sterilized the room whenever they weren't in there, so it was relatively safe for her to be out of her suit. When she was, she enjoyed every moment of it.  
_

_"It's not __**them **__I'm doing this for, Tali, it's for Admiral Hackett and Anderson. The Alliance can't afford a war with the Batarian Hegemony right now. They've always wanted an excuse to fight us, and you know as well as I do how that would end."_

_"But why should you take the fall?" she demanded. "You had no choice! If you hadn't destroyed the Alpha Relay, we'd be fighting the Reapers right now. You gave us more time!" _

_"And I had to sacrifice over 300,000 lives to do it!" Aedan yelled. "Even if they were batarians, did they deserve to die? Huh!? I could have saved them if I had had more time!" He took a deep breath, running a hand through his short hair as he tried to reel in his anger. "No Tali, I'm the one that crashed that asteroid into the Relay. Their blood is on my hands, and I need to face the fallout."_

_The anger he felt melted away when he heard her sobs. Turning away from the mirror, he walked over to the bed and held her close. She buried her face into his chest as he stroked her elegant raven hair that cascaded down to her shoulders. He felt her tears soak into his uniform, but that was fine. It was a small price to pay for snapping at her of all people._

_He rocked her back and forth, whispering reassurances to her as he mentally berated himself. It wasn't her fault the _Normandy _was here on Earth for his trial instead of out there, gathering forces in the Terminus Systems to fight the Reapers with. _

_"It's not fair," she managed to say. "None of it was your fault. After all we've been through, after you've come back into my life and...being with you like this, it's just not fair for them to take you away from me again."_

_"Hey, who says I'm going anywhere?" he forced a smile, tilting her head up and touching his forehead to hers. He locked his eyes with her luminous white ones._

_He managed a small smile. "Hackett says I have a good chance of walking out of there with no issues. Command only has testimony and debris to rely on; they can't prove that I did anything wrong. Anderson and Hackett are both going to testify on my behalf." _

_He grinned as another thought came to him. "If all else fails, I could always yell at them. That seemed to work well at your trial."_

_Tali giggled a bit. "You know how much I like it when you shout," she smiled, pulling back from him a bit to trace a finger across his cheek and jaw. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I can't lose you, Aedan. Not now."_

_"You won't, Tali," Aedan said, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips and holding her close. "I won't ever leave you alone again, I promise."_

* * *

Aedan's eyes shot open, his pillow damp for some reason. He rubbed the dust out of his eyes and sat up, looking to the hands of the omni-clock on his desk.

_Wow, six hours? Guess I was more tired than I thought, _he groaned._ At least this time I didn't dream about that poor kid back on Earth._

But the dream he _did_ have hadn't just been a dream. It was a memory from six months ago. It was the last time he had seen Tali before his trial, when he was dishonorably discharged and sentenced to house arrest until further notice, with no contact with anyone outside of James Vega, Hackett, or Anderson. All to pacify the batarians and ease their own fears. Essentially, he was forced to be the Alliance's scapegoat, and it still disgusted him to no end.

After the events on Earth and Mars, he finally had a moment to sit down and sift through six months of unread messages. Many were from her, and their contents were...upsetting, to put it mildly. She was furious with the trial, even almost went forward with some ridiculous plan to break him out at one point with the help of Garrus and a few others. Fortunately, Hackett eventually talked her out of it.

Tali's final words, however, two months after his trial, were what concerned him the most.

_I'm heading back to the Migrant Fleet. Something big is about to happen and the Admiralty Board wants me there to discuss it. I don't know if it has to do with the Reapers or the geth, but I don't have a good feeling about this._

_I don't know how long I'll be gone or if you'll even read this. I know they took your omni-tool. Even if you couldn't keep your promise to me, just know that you're never far from my thoughts, Aedan._

_Forever yours,_

_-Tali_

The messages stopped after that. The messages he sent back went unanswered. After that, he used every resource he could find to trace the Migrant Fleet's position, but all he managed to find out was that every quarian pilgrim in the galaxy was being recalled to the Fleet for unknown reasons. Some had speculated that the geth were involved, others the Reapers. Aedan prayed that it wasn't either of them. Before he could think of something else, the situation on Palaven forced his attention elsewhere. Two weeks later and here he was, heading back to the Citadel to meet with Salarian Councilor Valern.

Deep down, he wanted to cast everything else aside and go search for her, but he knew it was impossible. The galaxy needed him, now so more than ever. Besides, she had her duties to the Fleet, and he still didn't have any leads on their location. Maybe after the war, if they survive—

_"Hey Commander, we're about an hour out from the Citadel_," Joker's voice said over the intercom.

"Thanks, Joker. Give me twenty minutes and I'll be down on the bridge."

_"Roger that."_

Returning to the present, Aedan stretched and went over to his dresser, all thoughts focused back on the war and what awaited him on the Citadel. He couldn't afford to be distracted by anything else right now. Too many lives depended on him.

* * *

**This one ran a bit longer than I intended, but it was necessary. The next few shorts will take place in canon and I'll try to stay true to it as much as I can. However don't expect me to repeat verbatim what was said for dialogue, though I'll try my best. Thank you for the reviews/favs/follows I've gotten so far, and I want to give a very special thank-you to **_**BurningTheMidnightOil**_** for advising me to brighten up the cover art. I hope you guys like it!**

**I'm hoping to have the next short out soon, probably next week but it might be sooner if I get enough time. Stay tuned to my profile for the latest progress updates. Please review so I know how I'm doing, and thanks again for reading!**

**-Sheik**


	3. Where We Stand

**-Where We Stand-**

**_-Four Weeks Ago  
__Systems Alliance Frigate _Normandy SR-2_, War Room_**

The situation was much worse than Aedan imagined. He knew there was always a possibility that the quarians would attempt to retake Rannoch, but he didn't think they'd attempt it while the rest of the galaxy was at war with the Reapers. Yes, the Quarian-Geth War started seventeen days ago, a short time _before _the Reapers attacked batarian space and Earth. But nonetheless, it was frustrating.

He tried warning their admirals against this very scenario during Tali's trial. Of course they wouldn't listen to reason; three-hundred years of bitter hatred could do that to one's judgment.

_If only they had heard what I did from Legion,_ he thought. _What's going on, Legion? I thought the "True Geth" wanted peace!_ Like Tali and many of the others from his Collector task force, Legion had also disappeared without a trace.

_Are the geth allying themselves with the Reapers? _he asked himself._ I thought we overwrote the virus that would have turned the "True Geth" into heretics. Why would Legion go back on its word?_

He would have sighed if he wasn't in a meeting with all four quarian admirals. _It's just one thing after another. First Mordin, then Cerberus attempts a coup on the Citadel, Udina's a traitor, and then we lose Thane to those bastards..._

He stopped himself before he could think further. Mourning could come later. Right now the entire Migrant Fleet was pinned down on the other side of the Tikkun System by geth forces controlled by a massive dreadnought. He'd worry about Legion, peace, and everything else later.

Another part of Aedan had hoped before the meeting that the admirals might mention where Tali was, given their history. He planned on asking Shala'Raan vas Tonbay after the meeting, but he was still worried. However, if anyone knew the answer to the question that had been plaguing him for so long, it would be Tali's "Auntie Raan."

"Commander, are we in agreement then?" Admiral Raan asked, bringing Aedan back to reality. He straightened up, keeping his confident leader mask on.

"We'll get you out of there safely, Admiral," he said.

"Thank you, Commander," Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Quib Quib responded, relieved as the door opened softly behind the quarian admirals.

"Our newest admiral has also volunteered her technical expertise," Admiral Raan added.

_What? Newest admiral?_

"Shepard."

_No, it can't be..._

There she was, right in front of him. The one he had been searching for whenever he wasn't focused on the war. His eyes watched her graceful form descend the stairs to join the other admirals. He felt his throat tighten at the sight of her, his eyes growing watery.

"T-Tali..." his voice cracked, fighting to keep his composure. It took every ounce of self-restraint and discipline Anderson and the N7 program had instilled into him not to run over, tear off her mask and kiss her right there with as much passion as he could. He forced himself to calm down and remain professional.

He saw her rigid stance falter for a moment at his voice. Her eyes lit up as they locked onto his briefly before she looked away. She stood at attention next to the others, every bit the leader he always knew she could be.

He forced himself back to the meeting. He _was_ representing the Alliance, after all. "Admirals, I'll ready a team to hit that dreadnought right away."

"Again, we can't thank you enough, Commander," Raan said. Aedan nodded, but his mind again wandered to Tali.

_Has she changed? She's not even looking at me,_ he thought, panic filling his senses. Before he could say anything else, Tali cut him off.

"Admirals, I think the Commander and I should go over more details of the operation in private. There are some schematics our Heavy Fleet took of the dreadnought that I wish to go over with him. Would you excuse us?"

"Of course, Admiral Zorah," Zaal'Koris responded while Han'Gerrel vas Neema and Raan simply nodded in agreement.

Aedan saw Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh narrow her eyes at both of them and cross her arms, but she didn't protest. He wasn't surprised; Xen loathed Aedan the moment he set foot on the _Rayya _for Tali's trial. In a way, it was Xen's fault that the quarians were even at war in the first place. It was_ her_ toys that had given the Migrant Fleet the advantage until now. If it were up to her, the geth would all return to being mere servants and lab experiments.

_Tali was right. She i__**s**__ insane._

Aedan gave a stern nod to each admiral (and an especially steeled gaze to Xen) before walking around the circular table of the War Room, gesturing for Tali to follow him out.

He prayed everything was okay with her. It stung when she referred to him by his surname, formality or not.

* * *

As soon as the door closed, Aedan let his composure drop a bit. He'd been fighting with himself for the past few seconds how to break the ice; the silence was agonizing.

_Just what __**do**__ you say to the woman you were involved with but haven't seen for six months?_

He tried to control his shaking hands, but it was pointless. She hadn't said a word yet. Hell, she wouldn't even look at him.

"So...Admiral, huh?" he began.

"It's mostly a formality," she responded, eyes still facing front. "I'm an expert on the geth."

"That you are," he added with a cautious smile as they walked into the conference room, not sure what else to say. His mind was still reeling from the shock of having her back after so long. He leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms as Tali walked to the window, gazing out at the field of stars that highlighted the Far Rim.

"Heh, I'm glad you're here," she said, still looking outside.

_That's as good of an invitation as any_, he reasoned. "Um," he started, "I got your messages after I left Earth, but you didn't respond to any of mine."

He waited for a response, but she remained where she was. "What happened, Tali?" he continued. "Why didn't you tell me? You know I would have helped."

Tali hung her head low. "Thanks, but...I knew you had your own problems. I didn't need to add to them. I'm sorry about Earth."

She turned back to face him. "We still have the largest fleet in the galaxy. If you can help us, we'll hit the Reapers with everything we got. Or...however much is left from this stupid war."

_That_ surprised Aedan. Tali had killed more geth than most other quarians since the Morning War. They argued a few times in the past over whether the quarians or the geth were more to blame for the quarian people's predicament. He even found her pointing a pistol at Legion at one point during the Collector mission because it had tried to hack her omni-tool for information.

_What a mess that was_, he remembered. _It's a miracle I was able to talk Tali down_.

"I thought you'd support the invasion," he said as he moved toward her. She didn't back away, to his relief.

"No. After talking to Legion, I thought maybe there was a chance for peace."

"So why help them?"

Tali sighed. "I'm an admiral. People look to me for guidance. Public disagreement would divide the fleet."

_Same old Tali, always thinking about the fleet,_ he thought. It was endearing in other circumstances, but the way she said it this time had him fearing the worst. Was she saying what he thought she was saying?

He gulped as he moved closer, grabbing one of her hands. She stiffened at his touch, but didn't pull away. _It's now or never._

"And what about us?" Aedan asked, looking into her eyes. "Would us being together divide the fleet?"

Tali broke contact, withdrawing her hand. "No! Well, possibly...I don't know," she rambled, wringing both hands together. She always did that whenever she was nervous or babbling; he never got tired of seeing her squirm.

"That doesn't answer my question," he said.

"I know, but..." she stopped and stiffened up again as she walked out of the conference room, turning back to him at the doorway. "But right now, I've got civilian ships taking fire. Can we keep this..._us_...quiet? At least in front of the admirals."

_Well, that wasn't exactly a no,_ Aedan thought with the faintest glimmer of hope. "Sure thing...Miss vas Normandy," he smirked.

"Thank you," she said, her eyes telling him she was smiling behind her visor. Internally he was rejoicing. There was still a chance, however small it might be.

"You know...if you want to talk in _private_, maybe you could, say...invite me up to your cabin?" she asked.

"Maybe I could," he said, seeing where this was going. She nodded, turning her back to him and retreating at a quick pace. He chuckled as he watched her stumble on her way back to the war room before he turned to the CIC.

Before he could move a step, Tali's voice down the hall stopped him.

"Hey, Ae-I mean, Shepard?"

He turned back around to see her standing just outside the war room.

"For the record...still totally worth it," she purred before stiffening up again, disappearing into the confines of the war room.

Aedan shook his head with a smile before putting his own facade back on, even as deep down, his heart leaped with a joy he hadn't felt in some time.

_Two hours from now, when I'm off-duty, we'll figure this out._

* * *

**_-Two Hours Later  
__Systems Alliance Frigate _Normandy SR-2_, Captain's Cabin_**

"Tali? I'm free if you'd like to come up."

_"I'll just be a moment."_

He grinned as he turned off the intercom, trying to keep his excitement in check. The past two hours had gone by agonizingly slow as he put together a solid plan for the upcoming mission and filled out some paperwork he'd been avoiding. Regardless if there was a war of apocalyptic proportions going on, the Alliance still expected regular updates and reports. Not his favorite thing to do by any means, but at least it kept him out of trouble.

The plan was solid. The _Normandy_ would go though the relay first and use its stealth system to reach the dreadnought while the admirals rejoined their respective ships when the opportunity arose. He already knew Tali would be coming along with him on the dreadnought, and though Liara and Kaiden both volunteered to be part of the boarding party, he ultimately decided on Garrus, with Liara, Kaiden, and James on standby in case things went south. They'd be in tight quarters, and the three of them were nearly unstoppable whenever they worked together. They'd need that edge.

Finally satisfied, Aedan sent an updated mission dossier to all members of the _Normandy_ ground team when the door to his cabin swished opened.

"Nice to see some things haven't changed," Tali said, taking a quick glance around the cabin before walking over to his desk, "though it's a bit darker than I remembered. And messier. Keelah, look at all the exposed insulation and wiring! I'm surprised you haven't ordered someone to fix it yet."

Aedan shrugged. "Honestly, it hasn't been at the top of my priority list lately. But hey, at least we don't have Cerberus logos all over the place now." They shared a laugh before he continued. "While I was in lockup, the Alliance retrofitted the _Normandy_ to pass Alliance safety standards. Unfortunately they didn't have time to completely finish the upper decks. They were going to give her to Anderson, you know. But well...the Reapers happened."

He paused as he watched her eyes drift to the massive collection of model ships he was so fond of collecting. "Took me forever to find them all in the cargo bay. It's like they wanted to wash away all traces of me."

"_Bosh'tets_..." Tali growled, trying to avoid Aedan's piercing gaze as she walked toward the aquarium that took up half of the other side of the cabin. "Thanks for asking me up," she said in a lighter tone. "I couldn't talk freely in front of Raan."

"Are you okay?" Aedan asked.

She groaned, hands covering her visor. "No, no Aedan, I'm really not. Seventeen million lives are riding on me...and I don't know if I can save them."

"Hey," he started as he walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're not alone."

She walked out of his grasp, turning back toward his office with her back to him. "This was supposed to be my father's fight, but he left me with all of this. If they die because of me...if...if I don't..."

"We'll get them out of there safely, Tali," he stated. _No matter what._

She turned around and walked back to the aquarium to stand beside him. Both of them watched Illium Skald, Koi, and Thessian Sun Fish swim around in schools. "I couldn't do this without you, Aedan. I mean...I feel like I'm bluffing. Trying to convince them that the admiral's daughter knows what she's doing."

"Not the admiral's daughter," he reminded her. "The admiral."

Tali sighed. "I know. And at least now, I can push back against the worst ideas. That's why I accepted the position..." She hesitated before adding the last part. "And because of you."

Aedan was taken aback. "Me?"

Tali nodded. "When they offered me the position, I asked myself what you'd do. I thought you'd take the chance to make things better. You've given up so much, stood for too long without allies. I didn't want you to do this alone," she said, staring into his eyes. "So if you're ever lonely...just let me know," she whispered, her head dropping as she started to leave.

Before she could walk past him, Aedan gently grabbed her forearm, spinning her around to face him. She stiffened at his touch, but didn't move.

"Tali, nothing between us has changed," he started as he tried to gather his thoughts. "...unless you want it to," he muttered, looking away from her.

"Keelah Aedan, I'm not going to beg!" she exclaimed, shrugging out of his grip and crossing her arms. "But I didn't come up here just to see the fish!"

"No," Aedan responded, moving closer to her and grabbing her hands. "You came up here because I asked you to." He breathed in as he reached a hand up to her visor, stroking the side of her visor where her cheek would be. "I want you here, Tali. With me."

She didn't respond at first, though she leaned into his touch, a contented sigh escaping through her audio pickups.

"Okay," she simply said as she pulled away. "But we can't go back to the way things were. At least, not right now. Too much has happened, and we need to focus on the fleet."

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" he asked, a bit disappointed that she was still keeping her distance. "Look, I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise. Like I said, I read your e-mails after I got out. I know how hurt you were. Believe me, all of us were stunned by the Board's decision. I've never seen Anderson so furious."

He saw her hands tremble a bit, but that was the only visible reaction he got. "You have no idea how I felt," she muttered. "You've done so much for the galaxy, and _that_ is how the Alliance rewards you? By locking you up like a criminal to save their own skins?! _Bosh'tets_, all of them!" She let out another frustrated sigh. "I...I would have stayed until you were released, but I got called back to the Fleet. It was all I could do to keep them from going to war on a daily basis."

"If that's the case, again, why didn't you ask me for help when I got out? I could have at least given you some advice," Aedan said, running a hand through his short bangs. "Tali, I spent as much time as I could looking for any information I could find about you, or the fleet. I must have sent over fifty messages, hoping you'd at least let me know that you were all right. Christ, do you know how worried I was about you?! I even used my Spectre status and still, nothing!"

"I'm sorry," she said, darting her eyes away. "I wanted so badly to tell you, but the Admiralty Board voted to cut off all communications outside of the Flotilla. They were monitoring my omni-tool. I...I couldn't risk my position, not when I had a chance to save my people!"

She was shaking now, hands curled into fists. "I never wanted to be an admiral, Aedan. I never wanted any of this to happen..."

Aedan moved toward her, wrapping his arms around her as she started sobbing. He said nothing, simply rubbing circles on her back and holding her close.

"It'll be okay," he whispered. "I'm here now, and I'm not going anywhere. Neither are Garrus, Liara, Kaiden, or the others. We'll save your people Tali, I promise."

He pulled away, lifting her chin up with one finger. "And this time, that's a promise I _will_ keep."

She gingerly guided both of his hands to the lock releases on her helmet when Joker's voice came over the intercom.

_"Hey Commander, might want to get down here. We're almost to the relay; Gerrel's telling me we'll be coming in hot."_

Both of them groaned as they pulled away. "On my way, Joker," he said, a bit more forceful than he originally intended.

_"Right. Oh, and hi Tali! Glad to have you back, I missed you!"_

"H-how..." she stuttered.

_"So you __**are**__ there! Hell yes! Garrus owes me twenty credits."_

Aedan shook his head, smiling. "Don't you have a ship to fly, Lieutenant?"

_"Don't you have a team to lead, Commander?"_ Joker jabbed back. _"See you guys in a few. Bye Tali!"_

Aedan sighed as Tali stepped back out of his arms. "We'll continue this later, okay?"

She walked up to him, gently pressing the top of her visor to his forehead.

_The quarian equivalent of a kiss_, he recalled with a soft smile.

"Definitely," she said as she walked out of the room, a slight skip in her step. Aedan didn't even try to stop the wide grin that formed on his face while he slipped into his N7 armor's undersuit.

* * *

**Once again, it turned out much longer than I wanted it to, but that's fine. Yay, Tali's back! **

**I did consult the actual dialogue from these two scenes, but changed it to suit my own purposes. I won't always do this, but I thought it was poignant since it's an important moment in ME3. Also, sorry to all you action fans, but I'm actually going to gloss over most combat in this fic. It's not that I hate it, it's just that I don't want it to be the main focus of this particular story.**

**Anyway, thanks to all the readers/favs/follows! A bit disappointed that I only got one review since the last chapter (thanks Bill!). I'm not one of those authors that only updates based on reviews, but it's nice to read them not only for praise, but also for criticism. I really want to know how I'm doing, though I guess as long as people are still favoriting/reading/following, I suppose I'm not doing too badly.**

**Next short will be up next week (or sooner if this writing streak keeps going). Again thanks for reading, and please please PLEASE review!**

**Until next time,**

**-Sheik**


	4. Losing Control

**-Losing Control-**

**_-Four Weeks Ago  
__Systems Alliance Frigate _Normandy SR-2_, Cargo Bay_**

Legion barely set the geth fighter down in the _Normandy's_ cargo bay before Aedan slammed open the access hatch and jumped out, walking at a brisk pace toward the elevator. Tali and Garrus struggled to get out of the cramped cockpit while Legion calmly shut down the engines.

They ran after Shepard, exchanging worried glances as Steve Cortez, the _Normandy's_ dropship pilot, and James Vega, an elite Alliance marine, gave their commander a wide berth as he walked past. Neither wanted to find out what happened when you got in the way of an extremely pissed-off Commander Shepard in full red, white, black and grey N7 armor.

"Shepard, I don't think—" Garrus started.

"Not now, Garrus!" he snapped. His jaw was clenched, murder evident in his usually-calm blue eyes as he brought a gloved finger to the earpiece in his right ear. "EDI, is the Migrant Fleet retreating?"

_"The Heavy Fleet has destroyed the dreadnought and is now providing cover fire. The Civilian and Patrol Fleets are retreating as planned."_

"Good, make sure we follow them. Keep the stealth system engaged until we're clear, then shut it down so it has a chance to cool off. We don't want to tax the Tantalus Core too much."

_"Of course, Shepard."_

Tali and Garrus quickly stepped onto the elevator with Aedan before it started moving, heading for Deck 2. The tension radiating from their leader was intense. Neither had ever seen him this furious, not even when the Council locked down the original _SSV Normandy_ to prevent them from going after Saren on Illos.

The mission had nearly been a catastrophe at the end. Boarding the dreadnought hadn't been too difficult thanks the _Normandy's_ stealth system, and Tali's technical genius was invaluable as always. The tone had been nostalgic and even a bit lighthearted sometimes, especially when Tali and Aedan would trade innuendos. Making Garrus uncomfortable became a new favorite pastime of theirs.

They found Legion, trapped and forced to help the Reapers transmit their signal to the rest of the geth. Once it was released, Legion lowered the shields of the dreadnought and disarmed its weaponry "as a gesture of goodwill."

That's when everything went to hell in a hand basket. That's when Han'Gerrel ignored their protests and threw the entire Heavy Fleet at the dreadnought, all while they were still _on_ the damned thing! If Legion hadn't led them to a geth fighter bay, all that would be left of them right now would be dust and echoes.

Aedan knew this, and now he was determined to give Gerrel a piece of his mind.

_Sacrificing someone for the greater good is one thing,_ he thought, thinking back to Virmire and Ashley William's tragic death. He came to terms with it eventually, but it still haunted him to no end.

_But sacrificing one of your own __**people**__? An admiral who happens to also be your dead best friend's daughter? That's crossing the fucking line!_

"Aedan, really, it's okay—"

"No it's not," he growled. "That dreadnought was completely defenseless. What about evacuating the Flotilla? He could have waited until we were safe!"

"Strategically speaking Shepard, Gerrel was right on the mark. If it was a turian operation—"

"I don't care," he seethed as the elevator opened. He was out before Tali or Garrus could grab him. Traynor stepped back in fright as Aedan stormed past, fists clenched and shaking. He strode through the security checkpoint and didn't even pause for a proper scan despite the protests from the guards. Unfortunately, Garrus and Tali weren't so lucky.

"Keelah, we don't have time for this!" Tali nearly yelled as they were both stopped and scanned. "Ae-I mean, Shepard could actually kill someone if we don't stop him!"

When the two friends finally got through security, they ran down the hall toward the war room.

* * *

Aedan entered to see the admirals (minus Zaal'Korris, though Aedan didn't pay his absence much heed) gathered around the map, analyzing the battlefield. They all looked in his direction when he entered, but his eyes were only focused on Han'Gerrel.

"Ah, Commander," Gerrel started, "Glad to see you made it out. The Heavy Fleet is taking the brunt of their counterattack, but—"

He didn't get to finish as Aedan rushed forward, grabbing the admiral by the front of his suit and slamming him on the table.

"Wha—"

"Shut up, you self-righteous bastard," Aedan seethed as he gripped the admiral tighter, the others in the room too stunned to do anything other than gawk. "You heard us over the comms; you _knew _we were still aboard, and yet you still decided to fire. Do you know how close we came to dying because of you?!"

"W-we..." Gerrel gasped, "I _had_ to..."

"Bullshit!" Aedan roared, slamming the admiral against the table again. "One of your fellow admirals was still on that ship, and you still fired!? She's your own friend's daughter, and you still fucking fired on her?! It's incompetence like this and your obvious disregard for life that got your people into this meaningless war!"

"_Ngh!_" Gerrel choked, grabbing in vain at Aedan's armored fists with his hands as the pressure on his suit tightened. "I-it's us, or them, s-Shepard! Y-you're a soldier...you've had to make tough d-decisions b-before! T-that's war..."

"Wrong!" Aedan bellowed. "I've never valued personal prejudices over the lives of my people!"

Before he could go any further, Tali and Garrus burst into the room. Immediately they restrained their commander and pried him off. Gerrel dropped to his knees, hunched over and breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath.

"Shepard," Tali said, laying a hand on his shoulder as he strained against Garrus's vice-like hold under his arms, "let it go. We're safe, that's all that matters."

He struggled for a moment longer before Tali moved her hands to his face, physically turning it to hers.

"Look at me," she commanded. She stared at his rage-induced eyes until they lightened somewhat. "I'm _okay_, and so is Garrus," she said softly. "We completed the mission. It's okay."

Aedan finally caved, his entire body going limp like a deactivated LOKI bot.

_She's right,_ he thought, _He's not worth it_. _Though I'd still love to take a few swings at him._

"If I may," Shala'Raan said, hesitant but surprisingly calm given the circumstances, "perhaps the commander and his crew could use some rest before we plan our next move. Shall we resume this meeting in say...a few hours?"

"Yes...perhaps you're right," added Gerrel, still gasping for air. Daro'Xen simply nodded, more interested in live data she was receiving from her research ships on her omni-tool.

"Agreed," Aedan said, rubbing his shoulders where Garrus' talons had dug into them slightly. "However," he said, turning to Gerrel, who was slowly rising to his feet.

Aedan took a deep breath as he kept his voice steady, but firm. "I'm going to say this once Gerrel, and only once. As long as you are on _my_ ship, I have the final say on what is and isn't necessary. If you ever, _ever_," he stressed, jabbing a finger in the admiral's direction "needlessly endanger the lives of my crew again, I won't hesitate to throw you out the nearest airlock and leave you to the geth's mercy. Do I make myself clear?"

The admiral glared daggers at Aedan for a few moments before he looked away. The quietest of grumbles escaped from his audio pickup. "...perfectly."

"Good."

With a nod to the other admirals, Aedan turned around and rushed off alone to the CIC, leaving the entire room in silence. Tali moved to follow him, but stopped when she heard Gerrel's next words.

"Unbelievable," he grumbled to Raan. "I would have thought after Virmire and the Bahak System he would understand the concept of hard decisions...perhaps involving a human like him was a mista—"

_SMACK!_

Gerrel was stunned as Rael's daughter slapped him with so much ferocity that his head was rocking back and forth inside his helmet like a bobble-head doll.

"_Bosh'tet!_" she screeched. "That _human_ is a far better captain than you will ever hope to be!"

She stomped off in Aedan's direction just as Legion walked in.

"Creator Tali'Zorah?" it questioned as she moved past without a word. Not understanding the complicated emotions of organics, Legion turned to the others in the room. "Creators, Vakarian-Officer, why did Creator Tali'Zorah ignore this platform's inquiry to exchange data? Where is Shepard-Commander?"

"What, the _hell_, is this!" Raan demanded as the others stiffened, some of the _Normandy_ crew fingering the Carnifex pistols at their sides.

Legion quirked its head. "Have we offended?"

Garrus groaned. Just like Shepard to leave him behind to play negotiator.

_Sometimes I really hate being his goddamn XO_, he complained as he tried to defuse a quickly-escalating situation.

* * *

**_-Fifteen Minutes Later  
__Systems Alliance Frigate _Normandy SR-2_, Port Observation Room_**

Aedan sat at the bar in the _Normandy's_ lounge, watching the stars drift by along with an occasional ship from the Migrant Fleet. He didn't turn around when he heard the door slide open.

"I had a feeling you'd be here," a familiar accented voice said. He gave a lazy wave but didn't turn around. Tali slid into the stool next to him as he continued staring out of the window. They simply enjoyed the silence of the lounge for a few moments before she got the courage to ask about the glass bottle in his hand.

"That's...not what I think it is, is it?" she asked with the tiniest hint of fear.

"No," Aedan said immediately, knowing what she was referring to. "It's just root beer."

"_Ro-eeet_ beer?" she repeated.

"Yeah," he laughed. "Non-alcoholic. It's just carbonated water with sugar and other ingredients mixed in to add flavor. We humans call it a soft drink."

"Hmm...got anything dextro like that?"

"I think so. I had Cortez put in a requisition order when we were last on the Citadel. So long as Garrus hasn't raided the place, that is," he trailed off, climbing off his stool after taking another sip. Tali watched him duck behind the bar, opening a few cabinets before he found a twelve-pack of glass bottles with dextro labels on them.

"I think it's a kind of juice drink popular on Palaven or something," he said, giving her a straw as he placed the bottle on the table. "I don't know, there's a few other things down here if you don't like it."

"No, it's fine," Tali said, sticking the straw into a port under her suit's helmet. She took a sample sip before giving a nod of approval. "Mmm...it's tangy!"

Aedan grinned as he returned to his seat, taking another drink of his root beer. The mirth left his eyes as he sighed. "I'm sorry you had to see that up there."

Tali shook her head. "You have nothing to be sorry about. Gerrel is a pig-headed _bosh'tet_. But then again, threatening our admirals ins't exactly how you make allies," she said, a playful smile in her eyes.

He chuckled. "I couldn't help myself. I mean...you almost died!"

"No, _we_ almost died. But we didn't, and that's what counts."

"I know, but still," Aedan continued, his tone growing serious. "If I had lost you back there..."

"But you didn't," she said, entwining one of her hands with his. He looked over at her. "Maybe that wasn't your best moment, but all the same, you have no idea how touched I was that you jumped to my defense." She giggled a bit. "Plus, did I mention how...sexy you are when you're angry?"

This time he genuinely laughed. "Maybe a few times," he whispered as he brought her hand to his lips. He grinned when he felt her shudder.

"Careful _Commander_," Tali teased, "I might just pounce you right here."

"As much as I'd like that," he whispered huskily, "I don't want to be hit up the side of the head by Chakwas for letting you endanger yourself."

"Ugh, I hate this suit," she groaned. He smiled and kissed her hand again before taking another swig of root beer.

"You know," he started, face dropping, "I had Gerrel pegged as someone we could trust, especially after he defended you at your trial. I thought he was the most reasonable one of the lot."

"He was until he became obsessed with fighting a war against the geth. Remember how much he talked about reclaiming the homeworld? The only way he can see us doing that at all is with force."

"I'm surprised Raan went along with him and Xen."

Well," Tali said, taking another sip of her drink, "Auntie—sorry, _Admiral_ Raan, always tries to do what's best for the quarian people as a whole. She's more of a practical person, tries to stay in the middle. She didn't think peace with the geth was possible no matter how much I pleaded with her. Once Xen's stupid device gave Gerrel and his forces an edge, there wasn't any way that Koris or I could stop them."

"Koris?" he asked. "You actually get along with him now?'"

"He's more reasonable than you might think," she said. "My trial wasn't his finest hour. He apologizes, by the way."

She stared at her drink for a moment before continuing. "I admit my judgment was...clouded by my father's beliefs. I conversed with Legion quite a bit over the extranet after we parted. He convinced me more and more that peace was possible. I told Koris about it, and he was very supportive. He's rather fond of you too, you know."

"Good to know someone's on our side," he said. "Maybe now that Legion's with us again, we can sort this crap out." Aedan said before he shot up, nearly knocking over his drink. "Oh shit, Legion!"

Tali grabbed his arm, forcing him back down to his stool. "Relax, Garrus has it under control. I got an omni-tool update before I came in here. It took some convincing and he was a bit ticked that we weren't around to help, but the admirals will tolerate Legion's presence. Garrus said you owe him one though. Xen was frothing at the mouth until he 'reminded' her how you treated Gerrel."

"Eh, Garrus can beat her off with the stick up his ass if he has to," he shrugged. Tali burst into a fit of laughter while Aedan smirked behind his root beer.

They continued talking, laughing and reminiscing about the past as they enjoyed their drinks. They avoided talking about the war for the most part, minus their new crew members like Cortez and James. Tali nearly fell to the floor laughing when Aedan told her about Javik and how amusing it was to watch Liara ask the Prothean a million questions every time the crew ate dinner.

Long after their drinks were finished, when the couple moved to the couch and Tali rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder with a contented sigh, Aedan could only think of one thing.

_God, I missed this._

* * *

**I must say, I'm proud with the way this one came out (oh look, I sound like a hanar now!). Anyway, not much to say other than this came out alot faster than I initially planned (not a bad thing). The Rannoch arc is winding down next update (thankfully), and then we'll get into the more fun stuff. Thanks for reading/favoriting/following and reviewing. Hope you enjoyed this short as much as I did, and please review! They make my day, and make me write even faster. I'm looking at releasing the next short next week sometime, possibly early on if I keep going at this pace. Oh and if you're curious, I post periodic status updates on my profile. Go check it out!**

**-Sheik**


	5. Overcoming the Odds, Part I

**-Overcoming the Odds, Part I-**

**_-Four Weeks Ago  
__Planet Rannoch, Western Hemisphere_**

_"Scoped and dropped!"_ Tali heard Garrus shout on the team's comm. channel over the thunderous pulse rifle fire. Another Geth Sniper's head went flying off, spewing hydraulic fluid all over its brethren like a geyser.

She fired her Katana shotgun at a Geth Trooper bearing down on her position, punching through its shields and riddling it with holes. As she crouched back behind the crates she was hiding behind, she briefly wondered where Aedan was. He'd been silent over the radio for a few moments now. She quickly ejected her spent thermal clip and popped in another.

Her question was answered as a flurry of rapid-fire shots rang out from behind her, dropping three more Geth Troopers and a Destroyer armed with a flamethrower, which exploded into flames.

_That new sniper rifle is really something_, she thought as even more geth succumbed to Aedan's onslaught.

She popped out from behind cover and dropped the last of the Geth Troopers with a few well-placed blasts from her Katana. They dropped easily, their "flashlight" heads flickering out as they let out shrill, garbled shrieks.

_But I think I'll stick to shotguns_, she smirked, though a small part of her did feel sorry for the geth they were gunning down. She knew it wasn't their fault; her people had pushed them to sign a deal with the devil.

Legion had grown on her more than she wanted to admit. Tali wondered if her father was "rolling in his grave" right now, as Aedan would have said, knowing that she was actively working with a geth.

_Father,_ she thought sadly, _if only you held on a bit longer. You would have seen the homeworld, the one thing you've spent your whole life working toward. Maybe I would have even worked up the courage to introduce you to Aedan..._

A nearby explosion brought her back to her senses as she saw the remaining geth forces gunned down by Garrus and Aedan's combined firepower.

The entire mission so far had been, for lack of a better word, intense. Geth troops met them at every single turn, and the resistance only grew heavier the farther they pushed into the installation. All the while they were receiving burst radio chatter from the Migrant Fleet in orbit as they faced the geth. What she heard in those transmissions made her even more anxious.

_**"Clear!"**_ Aedan shouted as he and Garrus jogged over to her. His fatigued eyes, one illuminated behind the Kuwashii combat visor he wore, gave her a quick once-over before he put a hand to his earpiece. "Legion, area secure. Have you gotten that blast cover open yet?"

There was a pause on the other end before Legion's metallic voice came through their radios. _"...Affirmative, Shepard-Commander. The source of the Old Machine's signal is now exposed to attack. We recommend you use your Sync Laser at a higher elevation. There is an elevator on the other side of your present location. We will order it down for you."_

"Got it, Legion," Aedan said as he turned back to Tali. "Tali, any new news from the fleet?"

The quarian shook her head sadly. "Not a word. Just the occasional order from Gerrel and Raan. I'm getting worried."

He put his hand to his ear again. "Shepard to _Normandy_. EDI? Joker? Kaiden? Anyone know how the fight is going up there?"

There were micro-bursts of static as Kaiden's voice responded. He had been put in charge of the _Normandy_ in Aedan and Garrus' stead. _"Kaiden here. EDI and Joker are a bit busy right now, Commander. The Migrant Fleet is putting up one hell of a fight, but I don't think they can hold out for much longer if the geth keep pounding them like this."_

"Damn," Aedan growled. "Kaiden, tell EDI and Joker to have the _Normandy_ standing by for an airstrike. We're almost to the target, just tell the fleet to hold on a bit longer."

_"You got it, Shepard."_

Tali couldn't help the nervous tension that she felt. What if we don't make it in time? she thought. She felt a grip on her shoulder and turned to see Aedan there, warmth in his eyes.

"Don't worry Tali, we'll save them," he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

"Hate to ruin the moment, but our ride's just about here," Garrus pointed to the descending elevator. "We should get into position just in case."

Nodding, Tali followed Aedan behind some crates while Garrus went to the other side, his Mantis honed on the elevator as it finished its descent.

A few more moments taking out some cloaked Geth Hunters, and the trio piled into the elevator and waited as they ascended to the top of the base.

If she hadn't been loading another thermal clip into her Katana, Tali would be wringing her hands. She was far more worried about the fleet than she would show. She watched Garrus reload his Mantis while Aedan simply leaned against the wall, Indra resting gently in his hands while his eyes looked off into the distance, his mind likely elsewhere with the battle in orbit.

Tali was growing just as worried about Aedan as she was the Fleet. Of course she was beyond overjoyed to have him back in her life, but sometimes it still felt like he was...distant, as the humans called it. Since their little get-together in port observation, Tali saw him only a handful of times outside of the two previous missions they'd embarked on to Rannoch's surface. Granted, her status as an Admiral of the Fleet had required her presence in the war room almost constantly (not to mention their agreement to keep their relationship hidden from the other admirals). But the few times she did see Aedan, he always looked more weary and tired than the last.

He'd give her a curt nod or force a smile that never reached his eyes, but that was it. After both Rannoch missions, one to disable geth fighter squadrons and another to save Admiral Koris, he would give his report in the war room and then immediately retreat to the CIC, then to his cabin.

She had fought with herself on multiple occasions whether she should visit him (especially after saving Koris. Saving him despite his pleas to rescue the few surviving quarians under his command had obviously disturbed Aedan to no end), but she didn't want to jeopardize an already-fragile alliance. Gerrel had refused to come aboard the _Normandy_ since he and Aedan's little "spat;" instead opting to attend meetings from the _Neema_, and Admiral Xen also left the _Normandy_ after Aedan's refusal to let her "experiment" on Legion.

It wasn't just Tali that noticed. From what both new and veteran members of the _Normandy's _crew told her, they'd all noticed how "robotic" Aedan had become since leaving Earth, even more so after the deaths of Mordin, Thane (both had upset her when she heard), and one of Samara's daughters.

The crew's recollections still fit the kind-hearted man she had grown to love (though she was still waiting for the chance to actually tell him, to her chagrin). In the past few weeks Aedan had helped Cortez deal with the death of his husband, Liara and Garrus with their worries, trained James, secured support for the war from a variety of different species, and even took side-trips to systems besieged by Reaper forces to simply search for survivors. But whenever he wasn't helping those in need, he'd flee up to Deck One.

_Stupid, selfless__** bosh'tet**_, she cursed, _always thinking about everyone else but himself._

She spoke to Garrus and Liara the most about him, often while at her post in the war room. What she remembered vividly, however, was her conversation with Liara four days ago.

* * *

_"I don't know how else to put it, Tali," Liara's voice came from the console's speakers as Tali worked on a report for Admiral Raan in the war room. "He's been incredibly distant from everyone."_

_"That's what Garrus said," Tali replied, looking over to where Raan was busy conversing with Gerrel via vidcom on her omni-tool before she continued in a low voice. "How long has he been like this?"_

_"Since we ran into each other on Mars," Liara said. "I...Garrus and I don't know what else to do. We thought it might just be because of Earth and not having you around, but it might be more than that. He's even stopped accepting visitors in his cabin except for emergencies."_

_Visions of one particular incident, one that changed her and Aedan's relationship forever, flashed through her mind when Liara mentioned that. She was afraid to ask, but she had to know for sure __**that **__wasn't the issue again. _

_"Liara, when people talk to him in his cabin, has he..umm..." Tali struggled to find the proper words. "Has Doctor Chakwas found anything...questionable, in his bloodstream after missions?"_

_"No, nothing that would threaten the mission." She paused for a moment before she panicked. "Wait...you don't think he's doing something like Red Sand, do you?!"_

_"__**No!**__" Tali hissed, trying to keep her voice down, "Aedan would never do that. I...I meant something else, maybe alcohol. Has he been drinking?"_

_"Sorry," Liara apologized. "Well, I didn't see any bottles or glasses out when I talked to him, and I haven't smelled anything on his clothes or armor. I don't know about Garrus, though. Actually, knowing them..."_

_"He hasn't," Tali said firmly. "I asked him earlier. They haven't had any drinks together since before the Bahak Relay incident. He wouldn't lie."_

_"I see," Liara trailed off, "Tali, is there something I should know—"_

_"—maybe later," Tali cut her off. "It's between Aedan and I, and only us. Sorry, Liara. Anyway, you and Garrus really think I can get through to him? I mean, I can't right now..." _

_"Tali," Liara replied, "We think you're the only one who can."_

* * *

It pained Tali so much to see Aedan suffering, but her hands were tied with the war and her duty to the Fleet. She had to put them first, no matter how much her heart said otherwise.

But she knew he understood what Rannoch meant to her and her people, and he'd fight the Ancestors themselves if it meant securing them a future. She saw the raw determination in his eyes an hour ago, right before they started this mission.

* * *

_Tali stepped off the _Normandy's_ Kodiak shuttle in complete awe. Off in the distance, she could see Tikkun rising majestically behind the cliffs of Rannoch, ocean waves beating harshly against them, churning up rich sprays of cool water._

_This was actually the third time now she'd been to Rannoch. But it didn't matter how many times she did it; each time her steel-toed boots hit the rough surface, it felt as elating as the first moment she stepped out of the Kodiak._

I never thought I'd ever set foot here in my lifetime_, she thought. _I wish you could see how beautiful it is, father...

_She stared at the sight for a few more moments before she heard the crunching of steel combat boots and the familiar clatter of customized N7 armor behind her._

_"I can't believe it," she started. "I don't think it's really sunk in yet. The homeworld. My __**world**__!" _

_Wordlessly, Aedan moved to her left side, wrapping an arm around her waist. She leaned into him, cherishing the feeling of having the two things that mattered the most to her here in one place. She'd missed being touched by him like this._

_"Look at the sky. And the rock formations?" she said, pointing toward the distance. "They used to write poems about them."_

_"When we're done, maybe you'll write a new one," Aedan said._

_"This is Rannoch, the world of our ancestors. Our bodies carried the seeds that spread the desert grass. You've heard me say, 'Keelah se'lai?' The best translation I can come up with is, 'By the homeworld I hope to see someday.'"_

_"I think your people will have to come up with a new phrase then," Aedan smiled. "Looks to me like you're seeing it today."_

_Tali shook her head with a smile of her own and stepped slightly out of his arms. She put her hands up and made a rectangle with her fingers, framing the scenic view in front of her. "The living room window will be right...here."_

_Aedan quirked an eyebrow. "Something I should know?"_

_She turned back to him, beaming behind her visor. "I just claimed the land. I know it doesn't mean much right now, but when this is all over...I'll have a home."_

_"You will," he mused. "But the quarians spent centuries as nomads. You think you can go back to living in one place?"_

_"Well, we have gotten used to carrying our homes around with us," Tali shrugged. _

_Aedan didn't respond. Instead he looked down, eyes lighting up as he crouched. She was confused until she noticed a small rock in his hand as he stood up. He grabbed her right hand and placed it over his own, looking into her eyes with a smile. This time it __**did **__reach his eyes._

_"Well...that's a start," she said as she placed it in a hidden compartment in her suit._

_"That it is," Aedan said, his eyes filling with strength. "Come on, Tali. Let's end this war, once and for all."_

* * *

_After,_ she thought with determination. _After this is all over, then we'll talk. I'll find out what's been bothering him. And I will finally tell him... _

**"Contact!"** Aedan yelled, breaking into her thoughts as they reached the top.

All three immediately dived toward cover as stray heavy pulse rifle fire that hit them was barely absorbed by their shields.

"Some welcoming committee!" Garrus yelled. "I'm counting three Primes, Shepard!"

"Garrus, draw their fire. Tali, stay here for a moment."

With a nod, Garrus ran out of cover and leaped to another crate as the three Geth Prime units continued raining blue hell-fire onto his position, only returning fire with his Turian-made Phaeston assault rifle when there was a lull.

_"Hey Shepard, found a Spitfire back here."_

"Perfect," Aedan grinned. "Garrus, on my mark. Tali, be ready to hack the nearest Prime as soon as Garrus starts firing."

"What about you?" she asked as she watched him collapse his Indra and reattach it to the magnetic rails on the back of his armor.

"You'll see," he said with that same stupid grin of his as he disappeared under his tactical cloak. Tali rolled her eyes.

_If he gets himself injured, so help me Ancestors, when I get through with him... _she thought as she readied her omni-tool.

_**"Now!"**_

Tali saw Garrus pop out from the corner of her eye, unleashing the amazing firepower of the Geth Spitfire he found while Tali worked furiously, finally hacking the nearest Prime. Its friendly-fire protocols confused, the hacked Prime targeted its brethren and fired its high-velocity pulse rifle, blowing it apart while Garrus worked on the third. Tali's hack wore off just as Garrus destroyed it. He turned to the last one, but panicked when he realized he was out of ammo.

_Damn, I'm not close enough!_ Tali thought, alarmed as she rushed toward the Prime, Katana at the ready. _Still, I have to try!_

Right before the Prime could cut Garrus down, she heard a familiar battle cry and saw a familiar, electrified omni-blade slice through the geth as if it were paper.

Aedan reappeared, standing over the fallen geth, fire in his eyes.

Tali had never seen him use cloak-and-dagger tactics like that before during the hunt for Saren; he preferred running into the fray with his assault rifle, often taking the most fire for his team. No wonder James had referred to him as an "Infiltrator" whenever he spoke about seeing Aedan in combat. Shortly after Haestrom, she learned from Miranda how Cerberus had improved Aedan's eyesight so much with cybernetics that he preferred snipers over assault rifles now. Combined with Kasumi's "gift" of a tactical cloak and Tali's custom modifications to his omni-tool (a birthday gift right before the Bahak Relay mission), Aedan Shepard was now one of the deadliest warriors in the entire human race.

"Thanks, Shepard," Garrus said as he and Tali walked over.

"Don't mention it," Aedan replied. "Anyway, we should—"

_"Shepard-Commander, you must hurry. The Creator fleet is down to three-quarters of its original strength. Creator Admiral Raan's ship, the _Tonbay_, has also crashed-landed on Rannoch. We have not been able to detect any survivors from the crash site."  
_

Tali's whole body trembled; shock, sadness, and rage hit her all at once. _Auntie!_

"Stand by, Legion," Aedan growled as he unfolded the Sync Laser, walking toward the edge so that he was looking directly into the hole that contained the Reaper signal's source. "_Normandy_, get into position! I'm targeting the core."

_"Affirmative, Shepard,"_ EDI responded. Aedan activated the laser and took aim, leaning over the edge. Tali watched on with Garrus as Aedan grit his teeth together, aiming until they heard a loud beeping sound.

_"Target locked," _EDI announced.

The trio watched in awe as the _Normandy_ streaked by, unleashing two Javelin torpedoes right at the core.

None of them were prepared for the shockwave that sent them plummeting off the ledge.

* * *

**Gah, I didn't want to do this, but I'm splitting this one into two parts because of how long it's starting to become! Don't worry, I'll have the second and final part up as soon as I can, as this will probably be the only time I do this. **

**I really like writing third-person from Tali's perspective, you know. Originally I was going to keep it strictly from Aedan's view of things, but since this story IS about the two of them and their relationship, I figured changing it up a bit once in awhile would make for a more compelling, interesting read.**

**Okay, thanks as always to those who've been favoriting/following/reviewing. I'd also like to give a HUGE shout-out to _TW6464_, who's been reviewing about every chapter I've posted so far. Thanks for keeping my spirits up, man!**

**Anyway, wish I had more reviews [hint, hint, :-)], but traffic stats are showing that people are still reading. As long as that's the case, I'll keep writing. All the same though, please leave a review if you can so I can know what you guys think!**

**Until next time,**

**-Sheik**


	6. Overcoming the Odds, Part II

**-Overcoming the Odds, Part II-**

_**-Four Weeks Ago  
**__**Planet Rannoch, Western Hemisphere**_

_"Target locked."_

Before she could properly process what was happening, Tali heard a deafening explosion and was knocked off her feet. She felt her entire body tumble over the ledge like a rag doll, weightless until she hit the ground with a thud.

Groaning, she gingerly rose to her feet while her visor's HUD re-adjusted itself, sending her status reports.

_Good, no suit ruptures_, she thought as she skimmed through them. She looked over to Aedan, who was being helped up by Garrus. Behind them, the hole that contained the Reaper signal was billowing smoke into Rannoch's atmosphere.

"Everyone okay?" Aedan asked, rubbing his right shoulder. Tali guessed he had landed on it.

"I'm fine, Aedan."

"Not a scratch, Shepa—"

A deafening horn-like sound that was like nothing Tali had ever heard in her life drowned out all of their voices. She saw what looked like a mechanical leg rise from the hole and slam into the ground. It was far too close for comfort.

_What in the Ancestors...that's no geth!_

_**"Reaper!"**_ Aedan yelled as the horn sounded again, the monstrosity raising another leg.

Tali was stunned; never had she seen anything so gigantic in her life, not even the liveships. She had been with Aedan and Liara during the final fight against Saren, so she only saw Sovereign's full form from vids. They did nothing to prepare her for coming face-to-face with a live Reaper.

_This is what the rest of the galaxy is fighting right now? What is ravaging Aedan and Garrus' homeworlds? _

She could only stare at it, transfixed as if she were in a trance. It wasn't until Aedan literally yanked her out of her gaze and dragged her behind him that the spell broke. She could barely keep up with him.

"Come on Tali, we have to go!" he yelled. Garrus was already running slightly ahead of them to what appeared to be a Geth Ground Transport. "Legion's our ticket out of here!"

"Spirits, that's huge!" Garrus yelled back. "Hurry up, you two!"

"Keep moving!" Aedan ordered, still dragging Tali with him though she was keeping pace now at least.

"How are we supposed to fight that thing?" she asked him over the radio as the Reaper's loud horn sounded again.

_"I was hoping your fleet might lend a hand!"_ Aedan responded as they reached the transport. Before she could protest, Aedan shoved her inside beside Garrus.

"Aedan—"

"I'm manning the turret!" he answered in a tone that left no room for debate as he closed the steel hatch. She heard Aedan smack the roof of the transport with a fist.

"We will attempt evasive maneuvers," Legion said to them all from the pilot's seat.

_**"Go!"**_ he screamed over the radio. Tali nearly fell into Garrus' lap as the transport lurched forward, Legion effortlessly steering and avoiding rock slides, weaving in between them as she heard explosions and what sounded like a beam weapon outside. It reminded her of the Thanix Cannon on the _Normandy_ that Garrus was so fond of "calibrating." She heard Aedan return fire from above.

_As long as that gun is still firing, I won't worry_, she thought as she watched Garrus fidget in his seat. Sitting by while someone else was shooting wasn't his style, as she found out numerous times.

"_Shepard to Fleet, come in! It's not a Reaper base we're dealing with, it's a __live__ Reaper! We need an orbital strike, now!"_

There was only silence on the other end before Han'Gerrel responded, albeit grudgingly. Though even he knew when it was time to put personal grudges aside for the greater good. _"Acknowledged, Commander. The Fleet is in orbit above your position. On your mark."_

Tali felt her stomach churn as the transport weaved back and forth, explosions around them occasionally deafening everything else around them. She prayed to the Ancestors that Aedan was still holding on and uninjured.

_"We're clear!"_ his voice suddenly came through. _"All ships, fire at will!"_

Right as she heard the Reaper's beam fire again, she heard new sounds; ones she heard many times over the past few weeks as the Migrant Fleet pushed back geth forces into the Tikkun System. What sounded like thousands of blasts filled her audio receptors all at once, leaving her nearly deaf. She felt the transport pick up even more speed.

The sounds stopped, leaving her ears ringing for a moment until there was an enormous crash behind them.

_"What did we hit?"_ she heard Gerrel's voice over the radio.

_"The firing chamber,"_ Aedan replied. _"Looks like it's a weak point when the beam's priming."_

_"Damn it!"_ Gerrel responded. _"Their jamming towers have us targeting manually. We can't make a precision shot!"_

She heard a few select curses over Aedan's channel when Legion spoke up. "Shepard-Commander, we may escape before it recovers."

_"No. Pull over."_

She and Garrus looked at each other as she felt the transport slide to a complete stop. She heard Aedan's feet clatter on the roof before jumping off.

_What is he doing?_ she thought, panicked. _Ancestors, he's not going to do what I think he is..._

"Shepard, what the hell are you doing?" Garrus screamed into his comm. "Have you lost your mind?!"

"Shepard-Commander?" Legion asked. Even it was confused.

_"If we run away, the geth stay under Reaper control, and the quarians are dead. I'm sick of running from these bastards. This ends now!_" he roared. _"EDI, patch the quarians to the _Normandy's_ weapons system. I want this targeting laser synced up to the whole goddamned fleet!"_

_"Understood,"_ EDI responded.

"Aedan..." Tali started.

_"I'm not arguing about this, Tali."_

"No, I mean...if this doesn't...if we don't make it..." she had a hard time trying to find the words she really wanted to say. No, she _needed _to say. Right now.

She could almost see that silly smirk of his. _"You worry too much, I'll be fine."_

"I love you," she said softly, thinking he hadn't heard her. _Damn it all, I wasn't fast enough..._

She was surprised when his voice came through, lighter and without the brash tone he usually used as Commander Shepard.

It was Aedan who answered this time.

_"I...I love you too, Tali,"_ he said with a gentleness she hadn't heard in a long time. Not for six months at least.

_"...Keelah se'lai,"_ he added before he closed the connection.

* * *

Tali and Garrus sat together in silence as they watched the chaos unfold outside through an external camera. Four times Aedan scored successful hits on the Reaper's firing chamber with the targeting laser.

She had never felt so nervous in all of her life, though another part of her was filled with happiness. She had finally said it; she loved him! And he loved her too!

But she didn't dwell on those thoughts for long as she watched the Reaper stand up again, slower and heavily damaged, but still functional. She gasped when Aedan leaped out of the way of its deadly beam, the weapon neatly carving a path in the ground right where he'd been standing only a millisecond earlier. Aedan got up and tried aiming the laser again, but again dodged another beam.

_Come on, Aedan,_ she prayed.

Finally, after a few more narrow escapes, Tali saw the familiar golden fire of quarian heavy guns punching directly into the Reaper. It let out an ethereal shriek as it continued being bombarded, this time succumbing to the onslaught.

It keeled over, smashing into Rannoch and kicking up a dust cloud that temporarily blinded the camera.

_He won..._ it took a moment for her to process what had just happened. _I can't believe it. He killed a Reaper...he won!_

"He won!" she cheered as she scrambled over Garrus, fiddling with the release lever for the transport's overhead hatch.

"Tali, at least let me get out of my seat first before you go tackle Shepard," Garrus complained as he was squished by Tali's hips. Legion looked back at them, twitching the flaps around its "mouth" as if in amusement, but didn't say anything. Tali didn't care; all she wanted was to be held in Aedan's arms.

After a few more moments and curses in Khelish, she finally got the hatch open and scrambled out, leaping gracefully off the transport and jogging to where Aedan stood, though his back was to her. The closer she got, in fact, the more she realized she could hear a faint, yet powerful, mechanized voice speaking to him. When she peered over the edge of the cliff side, she saw the glowing red orb from the Reaper corpse. It was still alive, but barely.

**"—CIVILIZATION MUST BE HARVESTED IN ORDER TO BRING ORDER TO THE CHAOS. IT IS INEVITABLE. WITHOUT OUR INTERVENTION, ORGANICS ARE DOOMED. WE, ARE YOUR SALVATION."**

"I refuse to believe that!" Aedan snapped. "How can you talk about salvation and order when you bastards are taking millions of lives every day? I have a better idea; how about we become the first cycle to finally destroy you and the rest of your kind? We'll choose our own future!"

**"A TYPICAL ORGANIC RESPONSE, SHEPARD. THE CYCLE MUST CONTINUE. THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE. FINISH YOUR WAR. WE, WILL BE WAITING."**

"Wait—"

Before he could finish, the eye had already fizzled out, devoid of all functionality. Aedan lowered his head, his hands curling into fists.

"Aedan!"

He turned around just as Tali reached him, enveloping her in his arms and holding her close. She felt the tension leave his body, if only for a moment, as he relaxed into her embrace despite his armor.

"You okay?" he muttered. She merely squeezed him tighter.

"I heard what the Reaper said," she said. "Don't worry Aedan, we'll beat them. I know it."

Aedan sighed as he released her, weary eyes looking into hers. "I hope so, Tali. We killed another one, but there's thousands of these things left."

"Nonsense," Tali replied. "You're Aedan Shepard, Commander in the Systems Alliance Navy, the First Human Spectre, Hero of the Citadel and conqueror of the Collectors. And the man I love."

He raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth curving upward into a smirk. "So I take it you meant what you said?"

Tali reached a hand out to his cheek, caressing it softly. "With all of my heart," she whispered. He smiled and started to respond, but was cut off.

"Shepard-Commander."

Tali dropped her hand as she turned around to see Legion approaching, Garrus close behind. "Shepard-Commander, we can confirm that the geth are no longer being controlled by the Old Machines. We are free."

Before Aedan could respond, his earpiece cracked to life with Gerrel's excited voice. _"You did it, Shepard! The geth fleet has stopped firing. They're completely vulnerable! I'm sending the Heavy Fleet in with all cannons blazing."_

"Shepard-Commander," Legion cut in, "the geth only acted in self-defense after the Creators attacked. Do we deserve death?"

"What are you suggesting?" Aedan asked, confused at what Legion was up to as it stepped forward.

"Our upgrades. With the Old Machine dead, we could upload them to all geth without sacrificing their independence."

Tali was horrified. _Independent, free-thinking geth against the Migrant Fleet?_ she thought. _We'd have no chance. It'd be a massacre!_

"You want to upload the Reaper code? That would make the geth as smart as when the Reapers were controlling them!" she exclaimed.

"Yes Tali'Zorah, but with free will. Each geth unit would be a true intelligence. We would be alive, and we could help you against the Old Machines."

"Our fleet is already attacking! Uploading that kind of data would destroy us!" Tali shot back. She turned to Aedan, sheer panic in her eyes. "Aedan, you can't choose the geth over my people! You promised us! You promised _me!_"

"Shepard, Tali's right," Garrus interjected. "Think about this; it's Tali's entire _race_ that's at stake here!"

Aedan looked as if he had been blindsided by a charging krogan. He was as panicked as she was, she realized.

"Tali'Zorah," Legion said as Tali turned back to it, "do you remember the question that caused the Creators to attack the geth in the first place? 'Does this unit have a soul?'"

It paused for a moment, staring directly at Tali. She stuttered, not able to find the words. She felt herself torn between the lives of her people, and the machine that had done so much for them all.

_"That's it, keep hammering them! All ships, don't let up until they're nothing but dust!" _Gerrel said.

Aedan's eyes snapped to Legion, a stern look on them. Tali looked at him intently; the last time he looked like that was on Virmire, back when they were forced to leave Ashley behind...

"Legion, upload the code to the geth."

"What?!" Garrus sputtered. Tali couldn't believe what she had heard.

"Tali, call off the fleet if you can!"

She was stunned, numb even. Had she heard him right? Did Aedan really choose to gamble with the lives of her people? The people she'd die for without a second thought, at least before she met the human in front of her?

"Uploading. Ten percent."

_"Tali! **Hurry!**"_ Aedan screamed.

"R-right," she managed before placing an ear to her helmet. "This is Admiral Tali'Zorah. All units, break off your attack. Cease fire now!"

_"Belay that order,"_ Gerrel cut in, _"Keep firing! Continue the attack, for the glory of our Ancestors and the homeworld!"_

"Twenty percent," Legion reported.

"I'm begging you Legion; please, don't do this!" Tali begged, tears filling her vision. Garrus was flabbergasted; speechless at what was happening.

"Tali'Zorah, we regret the deaths of the Creators, but we see no alternative. We, the geth, wish to live. We cannot if the Creators desire our destruction. Forty percent."

Tali turned back to Aedan, her last hope. "Aedan, please! I thought you cared about my people! You promised me!" She couldn't help it; her voice started to crack. She had never felt so betrayed. "I thought I mattered more to you than that..." she muttered, losing all hope. "I thought you loved me..."

"...I do."

She perked her head up, looking as he stared into the distance at Rannoch's natural beauty.

"Tali, you mean more to me than anyone else in this galaxy. What I said...I meant it just as much as you did."

"Fifty percent."

Aedan grit his teeth, hands throbbing in unrestrained rage. "I've already lost Thane and Mordin to this fucking war," he growled, voice rising in intensity, "I'm not about to lose you, or anyone else that matters to me!"

He looked back at her, then to Garrus and Legion in turn. "I've seen too many good people die right in front of my eyes, and I won't stand by and let it happen again. Nobody else dies today!"

He placed a couple of fingers to his earpiece. "Legion, keep going," he ordered the geth as he looked up into the sky, where flashes of light from mass-accelerated cannons in orbit could still be seen in the atmosphere.

"All units, this is Commander Shepard. The Reaper is dead and the geth are calling for a cease-fire. I order you all, stand down at once!"

Tali looked at him, hope and happiness filling her heart as she joined in. "This is Admiral Tali'Zorah. Shepard speaks with my authority. All units, stand down!"

_"And mine as well,"_ Admiral Koris joined in, making Tali smile. _"All forces, stand down!"_

_"Negative, we can win this!"_ Gerrel shot back. _"Think of the Ancestors, how they were driven off our homeworld and slaughtered by the geth! No everyone, keep firing!"_

_"Agreed," _Xen added, _"If a servant won't obey its masters, then it's of no use. Destroy them all!"_

"Sixty percent," Legion reported.

_"Are you both insane!?"_ Koris asked. _"Commander, I'm pulling the Civilian Fleet back. The others are retreating also but the Heavy Fleet and those under Xen's command are still firing!"_

"Gerrel, the geth are about to return to full strength!" Aedan yelled. "If you keep attacking, they'll wipe you and the entire fleet off the face of the galaxy. Have you even bothered reading your own history? All it is filled with is the quarians trying to kill the geth. Your people forced them to rebel out of fear, and you're giving them motive to kill every last quarian man, woman, and child by backing them into this corner! You and Xen pushed for this; you both forced them to ally with the Reapers!"

"Eighty percent."

_"Utter garbage!"_ Gerrel spat. _"The geth are an abomination to our history and need to be eradicated! We lost everything because of them! Commander, are you __**sure **__the geth didn't indoctrinate you with that Reaper signal? You sound just like Koris! A human like you would never understand!" _

_**"You fool!"**_ Aedan screamed. "Can't you see that the geth don't want to fight you?" He paused before addressing the entire fleet. "All ships, I'm asking you to trust me. I swear on my life and the lives of my crew that the geth want peace. They only want the right to live, that's all. If you can believe that for just one minute, this meaningless war will be over. You'll have a home." He tried to steady his voice. "There's been enough bloodshed already. Please, make the right choice, I beg you...Keelah se'lai."

"Eighty-five percent."

_"All ships..."_ Gerrel said, _"...continue firing!"_

"No!" Tali screamed.

"That crazy bastard!" Garrus yelled.

"Gerrel—"

_"I can't ever forgive the geth for what they've done!"_ he raged, almost fanatically now._ "They killed my son, my daughter too. They even took my beloved Malra from me! I won't—"_

The connection went to static.

"Gerrel? Han'Gerrel, are you there?" Aedan said before he hammered his fist into the coarse Rannoch soil repeatedly. "Damn it all!" he yelled.

Tali was about to reach out to him, holding back her sobs when their comm. systems all crackled to life. _"—pard, are you reading me? Commander Shepard, this is Migrant Fleet Marines Major Kal'Reeger vas Neema—"_

"Reegar?" Tali cheered. "Ancestors Reegar, is it really you?"

_"Good to hear your voice, ma'am! I just wanted you to know that for the safety of the Migrant Fleet, I and the other commanding officers aboard the Heavy Fleet have restrained our Captains, Admiral Gerrel, and Admiral Xen for needlessly endangering the lives of our people. We've ceased fire and are retreating back with the other groups."_

Everyone but Legion breathed a sigh of relief. "Reegar...I don't know what to say," Aedan said happily.

_"Think nothing of it, I owed you one for Haestrom. We all owe you, actually. Just look after Tali for me and we'll call it even. Reegar out."_

Tali rushed over to Aedan and gave him a huge hug, laughing. "We did it!" she shouted.

"Error," Legion cut in, catching their attention as it walked up to the couple. "Copying code is insufficient. Direct personality dissemination...required." It turned to Aedan. "Shepard-Commander, I must go to them. I...I'm sorry. It's the only way."

Aedan frowned, but nodded, placing a hand on Legion's shoulder. "I understand. Thank you Legion...for everything."

"You are the first organic to befriend a synthetic lifeform since the Morning War," Legion replied. "It is I who should be thanking you. For being my friend."

Aedan lowered his hand as Legion walked past him, looking into Tikkun's bright rays.

"Legion?" Tali spoke up. "The answer to your question, was 'Yes.'"

Legion almost seemed to...smile, for lack of a better term, as its flaps moved upward when it looked back at Tali. "I know, Tali. But thank you. Keelah se'lai."

Garrus walked up to Tali and Aedan as Legion dropped to its knees by the cliff side, still facing Tikkun. It was almost symbolic; something out of mythology even, seeing Legion's body kneeling like that, offering itself so that its people could be freed from the shackles of a collective consciousness.

After what seemed like an eternity, Legion's lifeless platform fell forward, its blue "flashlight" dimming before going completely dark, never to awaken again.

* * *

Tali sat on the edge of the cliff, holding her knees close to her chest. She stared out at the amazing view in front of her, transfixed in Rannoch's beauty while she heard Aedan talking with Garrus, Raan (she found them shortly after Legion's sacrifice, having escaped the crashed _Tonbay_ mostly unharmed other than some bruised ribs), and a Geth Prime of all things.

The Prime unit promised the geth's full aid against the Reapers and to honor Legion's sacrifice. Not only that, but the geth actually _invited_ her people to live on Rannoch again with them!

_Peace with the geth? Living on the homeworld with them as neighbors? _she reflected._ I would have pulled my shotgun on someone if they told me three years ago that this is where I'd end up._

Her thoughts turned back to her father, and what he'd think about all of this. _Of course he'd be ecstatic, but I don't know if he would be no more obsessed as Gerrel was,_ she thought sadly. _Father, I wish you could see what I'm seeing right now._

"Shopping for another house?" a familiar voice asked as its owner sat down next to her.

"Mhm," she nodded, "Beachfront property."

"Claim it fast, it's a buyer's market," he grinned. "I might even want a plot myself, unless you have room for one more in that house of yours?"

_Bosh'tet_. She shook her head with a smile. "Maybe...though I could use some help building it..."

"It's a deal," he chuckled. "It'll be nice to build something rather than destroying it for once."

"You? Building something?" Tali asked coyly. "Why does that sound dangerous?"

Shepard laughed for a bit before his tone turned serious again. "You okay? I didn't mean to snap at you back there. I was caught up in the moment."

She stifled a laugh. "That's what you call cursing out an admiral and rallying the Fleet?"

"You did say you liked seeing me shout," he grinned. "But seriously Tali, I hope I didn't shake your trust in me. I know I scared you, and I'm sorry I gambled with the lives of your people, but I didn't think the geth deserved to die either. Not after all Legion's done for us."

She stayed silent for awhile, mainly just to make him squirm. Truth be told, she had forgiven him a while ago when Reegar's transmission came through. "Well, you did get me my homeworld back, so I _suppose_ I can forgive you."

"My lucky day, then," he smiled. "Thank you." They stared out at the view before he found his voice again. "I know working with the geth will be difficult."

"I'm not staying, if that's what you mean," Tali said. "I'm coming with you."

Aedan looked away, guilt written all over his face. "I wasn't going to ask," he mumbled.

"Why not?"

He sighed, running a hand through his messy brunette hair. "Because I respect you, dammit. You think I don't want you to come with me?"

Tali rolled her eyes. _Of course not, but sometimes you're too noble for your own good_. "So ask me. It's not hard."

"Tali..."

"I don't know how much time we have left, Aedan. I don't know if we can beat the Reapers." She reached out, taking his hand in hers while reaching out another to his face, feeling the rough stubble there. "All I know is that whatever happens, I want to be with you."

He smiled. "I bet you say that to every guy who gets you a homeworld."

She dropped her hand, turning away as she felt her face heat up, even with her suit's environmental systems cooling her down. "Only the cute ones," she said.

He laughed as he pulled her toward him in an embrace. They watched the sunrise together for a bit longer before Aedan spoke up. "You know, I'd understand if you needed to stay."

"I know, but..." she trailed off, deciding to stand up. She pulled him up with her. "I look at all of this, this picture of hope and peace," she gestured to the scenery before them, "and all I can see is everyone I've lost. My team on Haestrom. My father. Even Legion! I'm mourning a geth, how crazy is that?"

"It's not," he said. "Legion was a friend."

"Yes," she said as he wrapped an arm around her. "It is beautiful though, isn't it?"

She spotted his eyes drifting from the view to her. "Yeah, it is."

"It'll be years before we can live without our suits completely. But right now," she said as she stepped out of his embrace, retracting the seals on her helmet and removing her visor before Aedan could protest.

"Right now, I have this."

She thought he might tell her to put her mask back on, but she didn't care. The breeze that blew over her face was worth any infection. She was surprised when Aedan came up to her, a beautiful smile on his face. The same one he had when he saw behind the visor for the first time.

"And you have something else, Tali," he whispered. "You have my love, now and always."

She responded by capturing his lips with hers; joyful, trickling tears mixing together as two souls became one again.

_He's my lifemate, there's no doubt in my mind now, _she thought, _and nothing will ever separate us again. I swear it._

* * *

**Aww...man, now that was a blast to write! I apologize for the length, but the words wouldn't stop coming, you know? Thanks to all of my reviewers from last chapter, especially **_**Bill Atoll**_**! Guys, if you're a fan of ME stories with an original, badass Shepard, go check out his story "Black Dog." Seriously, it's fantastic. **

**The name of Gerrel's lifemate is actually a small tribute to Calinstel's beloved "To Survive" series, and is the name she is given in the series. **

**Okay, now that the Rannoch arc is done, I can get into the more original stuff I wanted to do! Expect fluff, drama, laughter, and all of that good stuff in upcoming installments. Thanks for reading, please review so I can keep improving, and expect a new update next week sometime!**

**Until next time,**

**-Sheik**


	7. Open Arms

**-Open Arms-**

_**-Three Weeks Ago  
**__**Systems Alliance Frigate **_**Normandy SR-2**_**, Main Battery**_

"So hang on, let me get this straight," Garrus said, taking a sip from a bottle of turian brandy in his talon as he leaned against the Thanix Cannon's control console. "You not only cured a thousand-year-old plague and eased tensions between two of the most powerful races in the galaxy, but you also ended a war between two _other_ major races that's been going on for nearly three-hundred years. Not to mention one of those races was our enemy not too long ago."

Aedan shrugged. "Yup. More or less."

"And you did this all in the span of two weeks?"

Garrus looked long and hard at his best friend before slipping into a fit of laughter. "You're a peacemaker, Shepard! Like it or not."

Aedan grinned as he drank from his can of soda. Though he normally had a hard time being around liquor, for some reason dextro-liquor didn't trigger any of the cravings. Perhaps it was because of what had happened the first, and only, time he ever tried dextro-liquor (more specifically, krogan ryncol) on a dare back in his marine days.

_I'm surprised I didn't throw up my liver that night,_ he recalled, inwardly grimacing. He'd been bedridden for two days and teased mercilessly by his CO for a month straight.

"Depends on who you ask, buddy. I don't think Gerrel would agree with you," he chuckled. "Unfortunately, words won't work against the Reapers."

"Yeah," Garrus trailed off, his mandibles drooping slightly as the mood turned somber.

"Any news about your family?"

"Not a word," Garrus sighed. "Primarch Victus has been giving me daily reports about the ground war, though. The krogan reinforcements that landed there gave our own forces a breather, but only just that. Reaper troops are being pushed back long enough to get the civilians out of most major cities at least, but that's it."

He stared down at the brandy in his clawed hand, clenching it a bit tighter in his talons. "Yesterday, Victus told me that he and what's left of the Hierarchy ordered all fleets to cease offensive operations against the Reapers. We're strictly playing defense now."

His piercing eyes focused back on Aedan. "Honestly Shepard, I don't know how much longer we can hold out, even with the krogan backing us up. If we don't end this war soon, Palaven will fall completely in a month's time."

Aedan walked across the room, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Garrus. With most of the salarians pitching in now after Thane saved Councilor Valern, the Crucible's almost complete. I've never seen the galaxy more united. We'll win this."

"I hope you're right," Garrus nodded as Aedan retracted his hand, retreating back to his makeshift seat. "I know Earth is suffering just as much as Palaven, so I hope for both our sakes, our worlds hold on for just a little bit longer. Whatever Tevos has to say better be good news for once."

The commander's thoughts turned back to the reason why the _Normandy_ was en route to the Citadel at the moment. After assisting with settlement negotiations on Rannoch one day since peace had been achieved while making sure the quarians and the geth both sent forces to help with the Crucible and the Reaper War (and that remaining tensions, at least on the quarian side, wouldn't start another war), Aedan was contacted by the Asari Councilor, requesting an audience in person, though she wouldn't say what it concerned.

_Typical,_ Aedan snorted. _Why do they always have to keep me in suspense? The galaxy's fighting to survive, for God's sake! We should be more open with each other now than ever before!_ Sometimes, he seriously regretted sacrificing eight ships in the Fifth Fleet to save the _Destiny Ascension_ from Sovereign.

"She wouldn't tell me much over the QEC, but she promised it was important."

"It better be," Garrus growled before changing the subject. "Anyway, don't you have somewhere to be? You know, with a certain someone?"

"What are you..." Aedan started before he glanced at his omni-tool. Memories from that morning ran through his mind, in particular his brief stop in Engineering to talk with Tali...

_"Oh shit!"_ he panicked.

Garrus keeled over in hysterics as he watched his leader bolt out the doors and down the steps like a charging krogan. He stopped by the fridge in the kitchen area to grab two saran-wrapped plates with post-it notes on them before he rushed off.

"Garrus, you have the bridge!" he yelled behind him as he disappeared around the corner into the elevator. The others on the crew deck were shocked, but Garrus merely shook his head and smiled. Aedan was late to everything; every time since the original _SSV Normandy_. Watching his best friend run off in a fluster never got old.

_Tali owes me one_, Garrus grinned, wiping a tear out of his eye as he walked back to the weapons console to finalize a calibration to the _Normandy's_ GARDIAN (General ARea Defense Integration Anti-spacecraft Network) laser system. Just as he was ready to head up to the CIC, he was interrupted by an incoming call. Annoyed, he jabbed the accept key.

"Shepard, if you think I'm going to stall Tali for you, you've—"

_"Garrus?"_

He stopped, immediately recognizing the accented voice. His mandibles moved into the turian equivalent of a smile.

"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about little old me, what with all those patients from the Cerberus attack."

_"Of course not,"_ the woman chuckled, _"we've just been inundated lately, and more come every day. You of all people should know how exciting my life can get when treating patients."_

Garrus grinned. "All too well. Especially when they're quarians."

He heard her laugh on the other end. _"I didn't interrupt any of your precious calibrations, did I?"_

This time Garrus was the one to laugh. "Nope, everything's one-hundred percent. Though if _you_ need some calibrations done, I certainly wouldn't mind lending a hand..."

_"Now there's an enticing thought,"_ she purred. _"I take it that means we're alone, no?"_

"Yup. Shepard was here earlier, but he left a few minutes ago."

_"What was that I heard about Tali? Does this mean she's finally back?"_

"Mhm, you got it. And guess who has a date with her in twenty minutes?"

_"Aww, that's wonderful! I always thought they'd make a cute couple. You know, I was beginning to seriously worry about Aedan. He looked so worn out when he came by here last, though he'd never admit it. Poor thing, always putting others before himself. Anyway, how's Tali?"_

"She's fine now that we've saved her people from extinction and given her back her homeworld. All in a day's work for Shepard and the _Normandy_ crew."

_"Wait...are you serious?! The quarians have reclaimed Rannoch?"_

"Yup, and they've even made peace with the geth. Shocking, I know. It's a long story, and I'd be more than glad to tell it to you in person. Perhaps, over dinner?"

_"Looking forward to it; let's just hope I don't get paged again like last time. When are you coming back?"_

"Tomorrow afternoon, Citadel time. On the ship it'll be early evening, I think. A bit later than I'd like, but Reaper patrols are getting harder to avoid. I think we'll be docked for a few days for some maintenance and repairs. That reminds me, have you decided where you want to meet up?"

_"We've been so busy treating injured civilians and soldiers here I haven't had much time to think about it. Any ideas?"_

"Hmm...well, there's this _really_ nice dexto-levo restaurant down in Zakera Ward the C-Sec guys used to rave about. I don't think those Cerberus dipshits hit that area either..."

* * *

_**-Fifteen Minutes Later  
**__**Systems Alliance Frigate **_**Normandy SR-2**_**, Captain's Cabin**_

Aedan was frustrated; his hands were shaking once again as he set two pairs of silverware down on the living area table. No matter how many times he ordered his brain to make them stop, they wouldn't respond. Even the speedy shower he took hadn't helped.

He had dried and styled his hair, washed his face, brushed his teeth, trimmed the short beard he had grown since his incarceration, put on a fresh t-shirt, pair of jeans, and finally his leather N7 jacket (to keep the atmosphere casual). After that, he triple-checked that everything in the cabin was clean and tidy. EDI reassured him earlier that she had filtered the air several times and ran another full decontamination routine today when he wasn't around, but even still, Aedan didn't want to take any chances. This would be the first time they'd be together without interruptions in almost seven months; he wanted everything to be perfect.

_I hope James was right about this_, he grimaced as he set out the simple dextro-levo dinner he had painstakingly made in the _Normandy's_ kitchen area last night. He could have taken the easy route and simply grabbed some MREs, but he wanted this night to be special.

For himself, he had prepared some baked chicken seasoned with fresh herbs, mashed potatoes, and some canned peas and green beans (all rarities found on the Citadel during his last visit). Preparing that had been simple enough, even for someone as challenged as he was in the kitchen, thanks to some help from James Vega. If the Mexican native had a hunch as to why Aedan suddenly took an interest in cooking, he didn't voice it out loud. However, the grin on James' face was a dead giveaway when Aedan asked him about dextro meals.

_"This for Sparks?"_ he asked.

_"How did you—"_

_"Scuttlebutt, Loco. It gets around." _Aedan finally caved at that point and told him what he wanted to do for Tali.

_What a nightmare_, he groaned internally. _Never thought I'd say this, but I wish Mess Sergeant Gardner was still around. Shame he's fallen off the radar. _

From the start, Aedan wanted to make Tali a real, tangible dinner that she could actually eat with her helmet off. None of that "nutrient paste" crap that she was usually forced to eat. Unfortunately, the extranet was no help. It seemed the ignorant stereotypes about quarians the rest of galactic society shared had bled onto it, as there were no sites that had serious recipes for quarian dishes. After that he tried to think of what she might like, since he had absolutely no idea what quarians enjoyed eating. In the end, James convinced him to simply go with a kind of turian tossed fruit salad.

_"Look Loco, all the chicas I've ever been with love salad and fruit,"_ he had said. "_When in doubt, always go with the salad. Plus, fruit can be a very intimate thing, if you get my drift._ _¿Comprendé?"_

He trusted the man, though Aedan had a few tubes of nutrient paste stowed away in his cabin, just in case she didn't like it.

Once everything was set, Aedan went up to his desk to grab the bottle of chilled turian wine he'd been saving down in port observation's bar. As he touched it, his eyes also caught the small, locked mini-fridge at his feet.

He stopped for a moment, wondering for a moment what kinds of liquor Anderson stowed in there. It wasn't as if he couldn't find out, he did have the key somewhere in his desk drawer...

_No, don't go there,_ he commanded himself, but that part of him was drowned out quickly. He remembered the relaxing feeling he got from a few glasses of gin after a rough day, how he and Garrus would spend hours in his cabin drinking whiskey and turian ale, reminiscing about the "good old days" fighting geth and hunting down Saren. He thought about the Dark Star on the Citadel; how he and Garrus had stumbled back to the _Normandy_ a few times from there whenever they were docked (at least, the times he could remember).

_One glass won't hurt me, _he thought as he searched around for the key. _Yeah, just going to get some wine, Anderson's bound to have some. Tali wouldn't want to drink alone..._

He heard a gentle knock at the door.

"Aedan? It's me."

He froze in place, looking down at the small, silver key that was clutched between his fingers, the old-fashioned padlock unlatched. It was like being snapped out of a trance. His senses returned to him; he felt immense guilt grip his throat. Images of her face if she had walked in on him filled his mind.

_What in the hell am I doing?_

He took a deep breath before he snapped the lock back into place and returned the key to his desk drawer.

"Yeah, just a moment Tali," he said as he walked down to the living area. He set the bottle of turian wine on the table, tried to calm his nerves and still-racing mind, and returned to the door.

As soon as he opened the door, a purple blur engulfed him in a tight hug. He smiled as he returned it just as fiercely, his nerves and fears dissipating all at once as he simply cherished having her here again.

"Miss me?" he asked.

"Mhm," she replied as she let him go, intertwining her hands with his. "Sorry I'm late, Adams wanted my opinion on a program he's developing. If it works, it could drastically reduce stress on the drive core when we jump to FTL."

"It's alright," he dismissed with a small wave of his hand. "Come on in, dinner's on the table."

Hands still entwined, he led her down the small steps from his office down to the luxurious leather couch and table.

"Turian wine? Aedan..."

He shook his head, still smiling. "You deserve it, Tali. Don't worry about me. See that bottle next to it? It's non-alcoholic Champagne, courtesy of Mr. Vega. I'll be fine."

"And what's that?" she asked, pointing to the salad. "Is that fresh fruit from Palaven?!"

"Yeah, and it was a real pain in the ass to come across. But I have my ways..."

"Aedan, you know I can't—"

"Actually, you can," he grinned. "Right EDI?"

_"I've taken the liberty of filtering the air and running a decontamination cycle in Shepard's cabin, Tali. It should be safe enough to remove your visor with a minimal risk of infection."_

Tali let out a small squeal of delight as she fumbled with the release latches on her helmet. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her beaming face. Her visor dropped to the floor. Before he could utter a sound, she forced her lips on his. He returned the kiss just as fiercely, their tongues elegantly dueling for dominance, eager to rediscover each other. He ran his hands up her back and undid the braids that held her elegant raven-colored locks in place. Her hair cascaded down to her shoulders right as they broke away for breath.

"Wow..."

"I've been waiting to do that for seven months. That and so much more," she winked. "But there's plenty of time later. I want to try some of this salad you made, it looks delicious!"

She led him by the hand over to the couch. He unconsciously held his breath when she took a small bite with her fork. An intoxicating moan followed by a few more bites told Aedan all he needed to know.

_I owe James a new piercing mod for his Avenger_, he thought as he sat down next to her and dug into his own meal.

* * *

"_Keelah_, that was delicious!" Tali sighed as she leaned back, taking another sip of wine. "It's been forever since I've had real food. When did you learn how to cook?"

"It wasn't hard. I"m just glad you enjoyed it," Aedan said. "I wasn't really sure what you'd like. The extranet certainly wasn't any help."

She snorted. "Those _bosh'tets_ wouldn't know quarian cuisine if it bit them in the ass."

He bit back a laugh as he finished his chicken. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so relaxed. Over dinner, they caught each other up on recent events, including Cerberus' annoying presence, and what happened on Palaven and Tuchanka, though he deliberately avoided talking about Thane, Mordin, and Rila. He knew it would come up eventually, but right now he wanted to avoid the subject as much as possible. The pain was still far too raw. Tali didn't pursue it, which he silently thanked her for.

"Indulge me, then. What are some of the exquisite delicacies quarians enjoy?"

Some of the light left Tali's eyes, making Aedan instantly regret his question. "Actually, we don't have much," she said. "Only some flavors for nutrient paste. All records of quarian recipes were lost on Rannoch during the war, along with much of our history. The few elders that knew those recipes died with that knowledge."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to open old wounds."

She reached out and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "It's fine. Maybe now that we got Rannoch back, my people can rediscover their history. Maybe we can even invent new recipes."

"That reminds me, how are things going on Rannoch? Heard any news?"

She laughed, shaking her head."It's crazy. The geth are...helping. Setting up housing, adapting power systems. They're doing in weeks what would have taken us years. To top it off, our scientists and geth platforms haven't even reached the Crucible's location yet, and they're already coming up with ideas for it!"

"That's a relief," Aedan sighed. "I was afraid there'd still be some tension."

"Well, there are small pockets here and there, but the geth understand. By the way, Gerrel is being detained for the moment. We're not sure yet how to deal with him, but Raan's optimistic. She hopes, with some therapy, he'll come to accept the geth in time."

"And Xen?"

Tali rolled her eyes, "Believe it or not, she actually calmed down after the geth gave her some new tech to play around with."

"Why am I not surprised?" Aedan chuckled.

"There's more," Tali continued. "Geth are even uploading into the suits of quarian volunteers! They're rewriting environmental functions, jump-starting our immune systems."

"What?" Aedan asked, genuinely surprised. "How? I mean, that doesn't seem possible."

"The geth are software Aedan, not hardware. They can transfer themselves from a normal body into anything with enough processing power, like our suits. They're mimicking infections, so the host can adapt without getting sick. It's like making a vaccine."

"Wait, so you could be out of your suit all the time?" Aedan asked, excited.

"Probably not on other planets, at least not within our lifetime. But on Rannoch, maybe in a few years..."

"Tali, that's amazing!" Aedan exclaimed.

"I know," she smiled. "But think about it. Today, on Rannoch, there are quarian children who will grow up healthy and strong, all thanks to the geth. It's almost inconceivable to think about, or at least it was. But now, there's hope."

"And they owe it all to you."

Tali shook her head. "No. I'd have killed the geth with no regrets. And you know what? I'd have been wrong."

She gave his hand another squeeze, her eyes shining with another one of those dazzling smiles he couldn't get enough of. "I don't know how to thank you, Aedan. You gave me back my world and provided a future for my people. And I'll do whatever it takes to give you back yours, too."

Aedan was at a loss for words. "Tali..."

She took both of his hands in hers, looking directly into his eyes. "Nothing stands between us now. Whatever the galaxy throws at us, I'll be at your side."

Before he could respond, the lights dimmed so that the aquarium was the brightest thing in the cabin aside from the starlight above them. What sounded like a piano started playing over the speakers of his sound system.

"What's that?" Tali asked, looking around.

"Um, EDI? Did you do that?" Aedan asked, though he got no response. The notes on the piano stopped before a voice started singing. A familiar tune, now that he thought about it. An old song from Earth, one he heard only a few times before.

**_Lying beside you, here in the dark,__  
Feeling your heart beat with mine_**

**_Softly you whisper, you're so sincere,__  
How could our love be so blind?_**

Aedan felt Tali snuggle up to him. He wrapped an arm around her, but his mind was far too busy listening to the lyrics.

**_We sailed on together,  
__We drifted apart,  
__And here you are by my side_**

A number of flashbacks ran through his mind, scenes that seemed so long ago now. The hunt for Saren, the destruction of the first _Normandy_, his resurrection, Freedom's Progress, Haestrom, the _Alarai _and Tali's trial, that unforgettable night with her before the suicide mission, the fallout after Bahak...seeing her here, right now.

**_So now I come to you, with open arms,__  
Nothing to hide, believe what I say,__  
_**

**_So here I am, with open arms,__  
Hoping you'll see, what your love means to me,__  
Open arms_**

As an electric guitar repeated the first melody, he felt Tali pull him to his feet. She led him out to the open space between his bed and the stairs. He wanted to protest, but she merely pressed a finger to his lips, pulling his head down slightly so that she could encircle her arms around his neck. On instinct, he took her waist. Together, they started to sway to the music.

**_Living without you, living alone,__  
This empty house seems so cold,_**

Aedan thought about those agonizing six months in confinement; how he'd stare at the picture that now rested on his nightstand for hours in that small room at the Vancouver Alliance base. More vivid were those sleepless nights here, in this cabin, only a few weeks ago as the galaxy was torn apart by the Reapers. He had ached for her presence, to simply be held by her and told everything would be okay.

**_Wanting to hold you, wanting you near__  
How much I wanted you home_**_  
_

He felt Tali's grip tighten as she pulled closer to him, moving her arms to embrace him. She sighed as she pressed her cheek into his broad chest and closed her eyes. Aedan smiled down at her, kissing the top of her head.

**_But now that you've come back,__  
Turned night into day,__  
I need you to stay_**

He was in heaven right now. There was simply no other way he could describe it. All thoughts about the war left him. He rested his chin on her head, closing his eyes.

**_So I come to you, with open arms,  
__Nothing to hide, believe what I say,_**

**_So here I am, with open arms,  
__Hoping you'll see, what your love means to me,  
__Open arms_**

As the song started to wind down, Tali looked up at him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

"Tali, will you move back into our cabin?" Aedan whispered. "I...I need you here. I can't do this alone."

Her smile grew even wider as actual tears now started to fall. As the piano and guitar finished with a flourish, Tali pulled him down to her. No more words were needed; Aedan already knew her answer.

That night, after they had passionately joined for the first time in months (and many more times after that), he felt entirely at peace. Yes, there was far more left for them to talk about, but right now, all they craved was the comfort of each other's warmth.

For the first time in seven months, Aedan Shepard slept peacefully, dreaming only of the beautiful girl he held in his arms.

* * *

_"Jeff, are you sure Shepard won't mind that I interrupted his date?"_

"Nah, I bet he and Tali loved it. We owe him one for supporting us, you know? Just don't tell him I picked out the song...or about my, um, _collection_. Can't let him think I've gone all sappy or anything. I have a reputation to maintain!"

Joker saw EDI smirk at him from the co-pilot's seat with a wink. _"My lips are sealed."_

* * *

**That was so incredibly fulfilling to write. In case anyone's curious, the song is by Journey and is called "Open Arms," and no, I do not own it. If you didn't get a chance to, I recommend listening to it while reading the last part of this chapter (that's what I did, haha).**

**You know, I've been waiting the entire fic to write this chapter, mostly because the very idea for it came from this one song when I was driving home one night, listening to Journey's "Greatest Hits" album. I was still playing ME3 at the time, so it was still on my mind. Originally "Solace" was supposed to be a one-shot with this song, but it evolved into what you see today after I played the Citadel DLC. The rest is history!**

**Anyway, sorry I took so long to update. I started another playthrough of ME2 and 3 (this time with a custom Shepard, who I named Aedan, naturally), plus I had a pretty bad case of writer's block. Like Aedan, I wanted this to be perfect. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews/favs/follows and overall support I've been getting! This is quickly turning into my favorite fan fic project to work on aside from "Insurrection of the Shooting Star."**

**Look for more soon, I'm going to try and get the next one done by the end of the week. Other than that, check out my profile for the latest progress updates, and please keep reviewing so I know how I'm doing!**

**Until next time, **

**-Sheik**

**P.S: Any guesses as to who Garrus' significant other is? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and know that I left plenty of clues. She'll be revealed in a later chapter!**


	8. Renewed Fears

**-Renewed Fears-**

_**-Three Weeks Ago  
**__**Planet 2181 Despoina, Unknown Location**_

The incessant splats of harsh raindrops against her visor only continued to make aiming more difficult for Tali as she fired off two rounds with her new Schmitar shotgun. She watched three Husks go down before she took cover. Bursts of mass-accelerator rounds from Marauders pelted into the crate she, Kaiden, Javik, and James took cover behind.

It had been like this for almost forty-five minutes now after Aedan disappeared beneath the waves of the ocean in the old Atlas-like diving mech he and Cortez fixed up. Since then, Cortez had also gotten their Kodiak shuttle back in flyable shape, but they were running dangerously low on thermal clips. The Reaper forces they encountered weren't letting up one bit. In fact, it only seemed as if they were growing stronger.

_To think, we should have met with the Asari Councilor by now_, Tali thought grimly. No one was exactly thrilled when Shepard ordered everyone back to the _Normandy _mere hours after reaching the Citadel three days ago, let alone the two other quick stops the ship made on it to follow up on leads. All because Admiral Hackett asked Aedan to look into something one of his research teams had been working on—finding a creature capable of killing a Reaper.

What was supposed to be a simple check-up on one Doctor Garret Bryson turned into a murder mystery quickly. Since then, the _Normandy_ had been from one side of the galaxy to the other, evading Reaper forces, dealing with victims of mind-control, and even tracking down Bryson's daughter, Ann.

It all led them to this out-of-the-way planet in the Sigurd's Cradle, and now not only were they trapped, but Shepard was beneath the waves of the ocean, alone and protected only by an outdated Atlas.

_Stupid, reckless, idiotic bosh'tet of a man!_ Tali cursed to herself as her shotgun blew the head clean off a Husk. _Only Aedan Shepard would just blindly jump into an ocean._

The oncoming Reaper forces occupied her mind at least, but now that their numbers were dwindling for the moment, her thoughts immediately returned to her boyfriend.

She went to reload her Schmitar, but was stunned when she couldn't find any spare thermal clips on her suit.

"Kaiden, I'm out!" she yelled over the gunfire. Her pistol only had one thermal clip in it, but she didn't want to use it unless absolutely necessary.

"Sparks, here!" James replied, tossing her a spare Avenger assault rifle. "All we got right now. _¡Lo sieñto!_"

It had been ages since she used an assault rifle, but it started coming back to her when she fired off a few rounds at a Cannibal. True, she wasn't on Shepard or Garrus' level, but she could still hold her own. She took out Saren on the Citadel with Aedan and Liara, after all.

"Keep up the pressure, people!" Kaiden commanded. "Don't give up! Shepard should be back any moment now!"

_And if he isn't?_ Tali contemplated, but she didn't need to voice that particular thought. They all knew Aedan's last orders before he said his good-byes to them and walked off the edge of the wrecked frigate.

_"If I don't make it back in one hour, I want you all to take off without me, pulse issue be damned. We're the best hope this galaxy has against the Reapers; one soldier, even me, isn't worth sacrificing that chance. If the worst should happen, Garrus will take command of the _Normandy_ in my stead, with Kaiden as second-in-command." _

If he'd been scared, his face didn't show it. But Tali knew him better than anyone else. His eyes were the key to his emotions, and they were alight with a fear that made her stomach drop. Despite that, he assured her he'd be fine.

_He'd better be,_ she thought grimly as she fired again with her borrowed Avenger, joining her fire with the others. She cursed this stupid mission and the war for the thousandth time._ I don't care what he says; I'm not leaving him behind! Not after he's just come back into my life again..._

"Contact!" Kaiden bellowed over the gunfire. "Several Brutes coming in. Keep them back!"

To Tali's horror, she counted at least four gigantic Brutes heading toward their position.

"Aim for their heads!" Javik yelled. "Focus your firepower on one at a time and switch to armor-piercing rounds!"

The ones who could do so switched ammo types and joined the Prothean's Particle Rifle fire. One Brute let out a ear-piercing howl as it was gunned down while the others continued forward.

"Dammit, I'm out!" James yelled, throwing his customized Avenger down. "I don't want to do this, but we can't stay here any longer, guys. If they break through and ruin the Kodiak again, we're screwed!"

"No, we're not leaving the Commander!" Kaiden hollered back.

"I'm afraid Lieutenant Vega is right," Javik said while his Particle Rifle cooled down. "Our supplies are dwindling and their numbers are still great. The Commander knew the risks when he plunged into the depths of this planet. It's why he ordered us to retreat if he didn't return."

_No!_ Tali thought, her mind racing in a panic as the Avenger in her hands violently shook. _No, no, no, no, NO!_

"I'm not leaving him!" she screamed. "He promised us he'd be back in an hour. He still has five minutes!"

"I'm with Sparks," James spoke up as he blew apart another couple of Cannibals with a fragmentation grenade. "Loco hasn't let us down yet. Let's give him a little more time!"

Javik started to argue when they all felt something rumbling beneath them, almost like an earthquake. Before anyone could comment, a gigantic Atlas mech shot out from beneath the waves and landed on the deck, grabbing the remaining two Brute's attention.

The hatch of the mech opened, revealing a bloodied, unconscious Aedan Shepard. Tali's joy turned quickly into dread as the harness automatically unlocked. Gravity took effect as Shepard's limp form tumbled to the rusted frigate deck. He started to rise with one hand, coughing out water. But he collapsed again, out cold this time.

Tali's dread grew even more when she saw the remaining two Brutes immediately head for Shepard.

"No!" she cried, firing the Avenger at them, but the rounds merely pelted off their armor. Helpless prey was far more enticing. The others tried to join in, but a wave of Husks forced their immediate attention to defending the perimeter.

Tali went to leap over the boxes, but was forcefully pulled back by Kaiden.

"No Tali, you'll be killed too!" he yelled as she thrashed in his tight grip. "Aedan would never forgive me if something happened to you."

"I don't care, he needs me!" she screamed. She watched in horror as one of the Brutes raised its sharpened claws.

_**"Aedan!"**_

Suddenly, it was as if time stopped. A few seconds passed, the Brute still holding its claw above Shepard. The other started for him, but let out a grunt of surprise when the other dropped its claw and started attacking its partner. The two Brutes fought violently against each other, the one that had almost killed Shepard pushing the other back away from his body.

"Tali, go get him! We'll cover you!" Kaiden yelled, letting go of Tali and unfolding his customized Viper sniper rifle.

Tali ran as fast as her legs could carry her, only stopping to avoid incoming Husks that were gunned down by Kaiden and the others. She leaped over a crate and finally reached him. He was out cold, blood dripping down both nostrils. Quickly, she hoisted one of his massive arms over her shoulders and dragged him along, pulling him toward the others with all her strength.

"Cortez, Shepard's back! What's happening?" she asked over her suit's built-in radio. She heard the familiar scream of the Alliance Kodiak fly overhead and saw it land close to where she was. Kaiden, James, and Javik gathered around it, picking off anything that got too close.

"We're good to go!" Cortez replied. "I don't know what the Commander did, but the pulse is offline!"

She pulled his limp form along all the way to the Kodiak, where Javik helped her hoist him into the craft and Kaiden and James provided cover fire. The two humans piled in as Cortez gunned the engines, closing the hatch and lifting off from the ground, heading for the atmosphere.

The other three members of the ground team were silent as Tali knelt by Aedan's side, her fingers rapidly going over readouts on her omni-tool.

"Ancestors, he's freezing," she said. "Come on Aedan, wake up! Say something, anything."

Almost on cue, he started coughing. She smiled beneath her mask as she helped him to a sitting position. When he opened his eyes and saw her, he grinned.

"You're a sight for sore eyes," he rasped, taking a few more breaths before he was helped to a seat by James.

"Are you all right?" Tali asked.

Aedan nodded. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Hell of a headache, though."

"Keelah, don't do that to me," she almost whispered. She would have said much, much more, but technically they were still on a mission.

"What happened down there?" Kaiden asked as the others closed in.

"We found it," Aedan started, still trying to normalize his breathing as he stood up, grabbing a pole above him for support. "It's real, and a lot more than we ever imagined."

"Was it worth almost dying for?" Cortez spoke up from the cockpit. Tali suppressed a shudder at the thought.

"I don't know, but we proved that it can't hide anymore...that it's a part of this war, just like us." He steadied himself again before moving toward the small viewscreen on the side.

"Cortez, patch me through to Ann Bryson," he ordered, fully back in "Commander" mode. "I have quite the story to tell her."

* * *

_**-Three Hours Later  
Systems Alliance Frigate **_**Normandy SR-2**_**, Deck Elevator**_

Aedan finally released the yawn that had been threatening to escape his lips earlier as he waited patiently for the elevator to reach Engineering. After a harrowing escape from the Reaper in orbit (which he saw plummet to the ocean below, to the ground team's delight), a quick visit to Doctor Chakwas for a once-over (and a lecture on "reckless behavior"), and then a journey to the war room's QEC for a debriefing with Admiral Hackett, he was finally able to let himself calm down and reflect on all that happened in the past eight hours.

What occurred down in the bottom of Desponia's ocean was nothing short of amazing. Meeting with the Leviathans not only gave him more information about the history of the Reapers and where they came from, but now he had actually convinced the oldest beings in the galaxy to take more direct action. It wasn't much compared to getting the support of the krogan or the combined geth and quarian fleet, for example, but it was still another drop in their bucket of allies in the fight against the Reapers.

He was glad Ann was okay. Seeing the Leviathan take hold of her mind like that before they traveled to Desponia was hard to watch. She was overjoyed to hear that her father's research had paid off and that his sacrifice wasn't in vain. She also volunteered her expertise to build the Crucible, which Aedan gratefully accepted.

Garrus chewed him out a bit for not taking him along on the mission and for plummeting into the ocean with an antique mech, but Aedan argued that as his XO, Garrus needed to stay behind in case the worst happened. Now that he thought about it, Garrus seemed quite grumpy lately, ever since they started the search for the Leviathans. It puzzled him, but Aedan decided not to ask.

_It's none of my business,_ Aedan mused. _Besides, I got my own problems to deal with, including one upset quarian girlfriend._

After they got back to the _Normandy_, Tali accompanied him to the med bay but excused herself shortly afterward, mentioning engineering work that needed her attention. Kaiden visited him shortly after that. When Aedan asked why he looked so guilty, the Spectre explained what happened when Aedan resurfaced.

_"There were two Brutes closing in on you and she wanted to get you out of there right away, _he recounted. _I held her back because I didn't want her to get hurt. Anyway, the whole thing really upset her; I'm surprised she didn't slap me or something afterward for holding her back_. _I'm sorry Shepard."_

Aedan forgave him, of course. He was actually touched that he had wanted to keep Tali safe, especially for his sake, but he could also understand why she would be upset.

So now he was on his way down to talk with her for the first time in three hours, and he was nervous as all hell. He wasn't sure what he'd find, but he knew she'd be alone at this hour, especially since her shift was almost over. Kenneth and Gabby were in the mess hall, eating before they came to relive her, and Adams was on his rest cycle. Aedan thought about waiting until her shift ended, hoping that she'd come up to his (correction, _their_) cabin like she usually did now, but he couldn't wait that long. He needed to see her, if only to calm her down.

After what seemed like an eternity, the elevator doors slid open and he walked through the two doors that led to the drive core. His eyes found her instantly, hunched over at her usual work station. He watched in renewed awe as her three-fingered hands glided gracefully across the holographic interface in front of her.

"No, no that's not right," she muttered to herself. "The A6 power couplings should be wired to the cooling system, not hydraulics...need to speed up the cool-down time between FTL jumps..."

As silent as a ghost, he slid up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She tensed for a moment before he felt her relax into his arms.

"Hey..." he started before she slid out of his grip and turned around, eyes narrowed behind her visor. He gulped.

"Idiotic...senseless..._bosh'tet!_" she hissed, jabbing him in the chest. "I can't believe you just jumped in there without a second thought! What if your propulsion system had malfunctioned, hmm? Or your air tank was damaged? You don't know how old that Atlas was!"

"Tali..."

"—and on top of that, you scare me half to death by looking as if you got in a bar fight and falling to the floor like a limp pyjak! If that Brute hadn't turned on the other one, you would have...you would have—"

Stifling a exasperated groan, he did the only thing he could think of to stop her rambling. He once again brought her into a tight embrace. She started to struggle, but then he felt her succumb to his warmth.

"I'm sorry, love," he whispered. "Relax, I'm fine. And yeah it was pretty stupid, I admit, but I had no choice. If I hadn't talked with the Leviathans, we would have never gotten their support, let alone got the Kodiak off the ground."

She choked back a sob as he massaged her back. "I thought I'd lost you down there. Don't do that ever again, not even to forge an alliance with a damned Reaper-killer! You're worth more than that."

He sighed, his heart hurting in his chest. He hated making her cry like this.

"Tali, I won't dance around this. We're in the middle of a war; I have to take risks. It's what we did when we chased down Saren, and it's what we did when we went after the Collectors. You know how many people are depending on us. I'm a soldier, it's what I do."

"No you're not!" she almost yelled. "You're not _just _a soldier, Aedan. No matter what you might think, you're the only thing holding this galaxy together long enough to fight back against the Reapers. We can't lose you..._I_ can't lose you. Don't ever forget how much you matter to us."

"I won't," he replied, pulling away from her, taking her hands in his, rubbing circles on her palms with his thumbs.

"Aedan, do you think you can you make me another promise?" Tali asked.

He looked up into her eyes, smiling. "Name it."

She bit her lip nervously before she worked up the courage to ask of him what might be an impossibility, in the end. "No matter what happens from here on out, promise me...promise me that you'll always come back to me alive. Please..."

In the back of his mind, he knew Tali wasn't being rational. There were so many unknowns to consider when it came to this war, but he tuned those thoughts out. Instead, he listened to his heart, and what it was telling him to say.

"Okay then," he started, touching his forehead to hers. "I promise, no matter what it takes, I'll always come back to you alive, Tali. For better or for worse, you're stuck with me," he said with that roguish grin she loved so much.

Her eyes lit up with a loving smile behind her visor as she hugged him tightly.

"Thank you," she mumbled into his shoulder. He smiled even wider, relishing the feeling of having her in his arms. He definitely made the right choice.

They stayed like that for awhile, listening to the calming sounds of the drive core. After some time, Aedan gently led her by the hand to the elevator, up to the cabin both of them called home, where he told her everything that had happened with the Leviathans.

* * *

**I swear, this story's going to explode from all the fluff I've put in it so far! Hope I'm not rotting anyone's teeth out too much, haha.**

**Sorry for the long wait, guys. I got a minor case of writer's block, plus the past month has been a roller-coaster. I'm taking a fairly prestigious internship this summer, and I've had my hands full trying to work things out. Thank you for the great reviews I received last chapter, they kept me determined to get this next one out for you all! I know it's not quite as good as the last one, but I'll make up for it next time, because that one's going to be a real doozy, let me tell you.**

**Anyway, as you can tell, this is my take on the Leviathan DLC. I won't be covering the Omega DLC (might even pretend it doesn't happen) as it's not really important to the story I'm telling. Also, I'd like to ret-con a few things. First off, I made a few minor errors (such as James Vega's nationality) that I noticed after replaying ME3 again, so I went back and changed those. Also, I'm going to add another week to the timeline here starting from Chapter Two-onward to accommodate more time for the Leviathan DLC to happen. When I first started this, I didn't think to include Leviathan, so now that I have, I'd like to keep the time needed to journey between locations at least somewhat realistic to the universe. Other than that, that's about it and I don't think I'll have to do any more corrections. If I do, I'll let you all know.**

**Thanks again for the support, and please review so I know how I'm doing! Don't forget to fav/follow while you're at it, and check out my profile for status updates on the next chapter of this story and my other active ones!**

**Until next time,**

**-Sheik**

**P.S (5-13): My apologies for the double (or false, depending on how you look at it) update to those of you who have read this chapter already, but for some reason, this site had an issue two days ago where e-mails for author/story/review/forum alerts weren't sending. It's working again as of last night, and I was concerned that some of you who are following the story didn't know I posted a new chapter. So to rectify that, I took down and re-posted the chapter. Thanks for understanding, and I have started work on Chapter 9, so I'm hoping to release it soon. Stay tuned, and thanks for the support!**


	9. Relapse

**-Relapse-**

_**-Two Weeks Ago  
**__**Systems Alliance Frigate **_**Normandy SR-2**_**, Engineering (Deck Four)**_

Tali could barely focus properly on her maintenance checks; her mind kept wandering back to her commander. It'd been over three hours since he, Javik, and Liara had left for Thessia with Cortez in the Kodiak, and still there was no word from them.

She knew the asari homeworld was burning right now; its denizens fighting a losing ground war against the Reapers, much like Palaven and Earth were. But there was a silver lining, which was why the _Normandy _arrived in the first place.

Aedan finally met with Councilor Tevos after the Leviathan incident (and fortunately it wasn't a waste of time, for once). She spoke of a Prothean relic on her world that might be the key to finding the Catalyst; the last piece of the Crucible needed to finally complete it. It took the _Normandy _an extra day of jumping through different relays to reach the Parnitha System without running into any Reaper patrols, but at least the _Normandy's_ drive core was holding up relatively well against the stress. Adams was right on about Cerberus when it came to the SR-2—say what you want about them, but those bastards really know how to build a ship.

Ever since they departed from the Citadel, Aedan had more been...anxious? Uneasy? Yes, those would be the best human terms to describe it. He'd walk around the ship for no reason, or head down to the armory to clean and customize his weapons. He would even sit on the bed in their cabin and stare off into space sometimes, as if he were in a daze. He wasn't even interested in "relaxing" last night. Instead, he gently pushed her away, mumbling something about how tired he was. Aedan had never _once_ turned her down before.

Of course, Tali understood, at least to a degree, what he was going though. She knew how high the stakes were surrounding this mission. Aedan even mentioned whatever they found in Thessia's archives might be the key to finally defeating the Reapers for good. But was it so important that it even had the legendary, fearless Commander Shepard, completely on edge?

She had wanted so badly to go with him, and it wasn't hard to tell he wanted the same. But since it would be an extraction mission in the middle of an active warzone where combat would be avoided as much as possible, he reasoned it would be best to go in with a small team. Javik was a natural choice, being the last living Prothean alive. Though he was no scholar, he did know a fair amount about his people's technology, and could provide a unique insight into whatever they found down there. But when Liara specifically requested to go, Thessia being her homeworld, Tali knew she'd have to stay behind.

_"We'll be fine, Tali,"_ he had told her before leaving. _"Maybe it's for the best, anyway. Garrus will need you here if the _Normandy _comes under fire. Adams is good, and so are Kenneth and Gabby. But you're the best engineer I know." _

He gave her one last, small smile as he boarded the Kodiak. _"Protect our home, love. I'll be back before you know it." _

On instinct, she stopped her work and felt for the small rock from Rannoch stowed away in a hidden pouch on her suit.

_He'll be back soon,_ she thought, gently tracing her fingers over the rough edges of the keepsake, treasuring the comfort it gave her. _He promised me he'd always come back._

With a final squeeze for luck, she resumed inputting command codes into the _Normandy's_ diagnostic programs with her omni-tool. But no matter how much she tried to immerse herself in her work, Tali couldn't shake the creeping sense of dread that ate away at her subconscious.

_Something's wrong_, a small voice in the back of her mind whispered. She nearly jumped out of her suit when the intercom switched on.

_"All hands, this is Executive Officer Vakarian. The ground team has returned and we're leaving orbit. All necessary personnel should report to their stations. We're heading for the Citadel." _

There was a slight pause before he finished. "..._I'm sorry to say that Thessia has fallen...Vakarian out."_

Panic seized every fiber of Tali's being as she quickly finished her diagnostics, but she forced herself to stay focused long enough to make sure everything was in order. Like it or not, she still had a duty to fulfill, after all.

"Tali," a voice from behind her said as she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. "Tali, it's okay, go to them. Kenneth and I can handle things down here."

Tali turned around to see Gabby, one of her fellow engineers that she first met during the Collector mission. Her partner, Kenneth, gave a small wave and a clearly-forced smile from his work station.

"Are you sure?" Tali asked. "What if there's a Reaper attack? I know we have the stealth drive, and it hasn't failed us yet and the drive core is holding up, but I still think some of the A4 couplings could be rewired to improve efficiency, and—"

"Tali, it's fine," Gabby interrupted, giving her friend's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "It...it didn't look too good up there. I was on my way back from the mess when Liara locked herself in her room."

"Did you see Ae—I mean, Shepard?"

Gabby frowned, shaking her head. "No, but Garrus is up there if you want ask him. He was trying to calm Liara down."

Without another word, Tali was off, hurrying to the elevator. She was surprised when Javik stepped out from behind the doors. He sized her up, standing still before he spoke.

"Your asari truly _is_ foolish for a primitive," he sneered as he broke into a quick stride back to his room. muttering about "deities" and "foolish religions." Tali would have argued, but two people on her mind took priority over any retort.

She bounced on her toes as the elevator ascended, irritated at how long it was taking. Hundreds of possible scenarios concerning the mission ran through her head, none of them good.

_Of course Liara's upset; she just lost her entire homeworld! But...was it worth it? Did they find the artifact? Of course they did, they must have! Aedan Shepard never fails._

She raced out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. Ignoring the Memorial Wall, she sprinted to Liara's room, where she saw Garrus standing outside the door. He looked up at her as she approached.

"Garrus, what happened?" Tali asked, stopping in her tracks. From the other side of the door, she heard muffled sobs.

"It's bad," Garrus sighed. "Everyone's okay aside from some bumps and bruises, but that's as good as it gets."

"What do you mean? I know Thessia's lost, but they found the artifact at least, right?"

Garrus stared uncomfortably down at the floor. "Shepard and Javik didn't tell me much, but from what I gathered, everything went straight to hell." He looked back up at Tali, fury in his eyes. "Cerberus was there. They...those bastards beat Shepard to whatever it was they were looking for."

That same dreadful feeling from earlier returned, and Tali's thoughts turned to Aedan. Memories of another failure seven months ago flashed through her mind. Garrus seemed to be knowing what she was thinking about, even if he was unaware of what happened during _that _particular incident.

"Tali, I'll take care of Liara as best I can. Shepard's not taking this well at all; he's in full-blooded hothead mode. He even snapped at Joker before he stopped by the med-bay."

"Where is he?"

Garrus looked away for a moment, almost guiltily. "I couldn't stop him, he just stopped in for some medi-gel and bandages and left for his cabin."

"How long?"

"About ten minutes ago. He called me to issue orders, sounded like he could barely keep himself together. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he poured himself a stiff drink. Haven't seen him like this since—"

Tali scrambled for the elevator and smashed the button fervently for Deck One before Garrus could even finish.

* * *

_**-Eight Months Ago  
(Former) Cerberus Private Frigate **_**Normandy SR-2**_**, Captain's Cabin**_

Tali was fidgeting with her hands as the elevator ascended to Aedan's cabin. Inwardly, she was still debating whether she should be going up to see him, but Kasumi and Garrus were both insistent.

It had been six hours since Aedan shut himself inside his cabin. Right now they were on their way back to Illium to finish the few repairs needed from the assault on the Collector base. Since that fateful (and amazing) mission, they had kept a low profile, sticking only to the Terminus Systems.

They reunited again with Liara for a time, helping her take down the Shadow Broker and saving her friend Feron in the process. Her role as the new Shadow Broker was a life-saver, allowing the _Normandy_ to make repairs at certain dry-docks without attracting unwanted attention, in particular Cerberus. Not only that, but the vast resources that came with the position allowed them to start preparing for the Reapers and recruit allies.

On top of it all, Tali's relationship with Aedan grew stronger every moment they spent together. Since that unforgettable night before the assault, he had even invited her to share his cabin. She was also pleased that, though it was a slow process despite Mordin's help, her immune system was adapting to both the cabin and his germs.

She could wait, as long as he was here. _After all, I waited two years for him._

It still felt foreign, calling him by his first name instead of "Shepard." Everyone they had ever met called him Shepard. But he insisted, and now it was becoming a habit. Not even Garrus called him by his first name; it just made what they had all the more special.

For the past few weeks, the _Normandy _had been actively recruiting allies against the Reapers. Things were going surprisingly well until Aedan received a priority message from Admiral Hackett requesting his assistance. What was curious was that wasn't an Alliance matter; it was a personal request from a friend, "off the record" as Aedan referred to it. Of course he accepted, even if it meant a solo mission into batarian-controlled space. He owed Hackett quite a lot for his help against Sovereign and his continued support, despite others in the Alliance calling Aedan a traitor for his association with Cerberus.

Since the beginning, the mission hadn't sat well with Tali, even more so when Aedan failed to report for almost two days after he departed. Now, she didn't know what to think. The unthinkable happened—a Mass Relay was destroyed, and the Bahak System was no more.

_All those people,_ she thought sadly. _Even if they were batarians, they were still innocents. What happened out there, Aedan? You said it would be a simple extraction mission, nothing more._

The quarian engineer took a deep breath as the elevator finally slid to a stop on Deck One. Still wringing her hands, she quietly stepped out and approached the door.

The silence was unnerving. She had expected shouting, crying..._anything_ except silence.

_Maybe he's sleeping,_ she thought as she approached the door, her fist raised over the door to knock. _Perhaps I should come back later._

_BANG!_

She jumped as the unmistakable sound of a mass-accelerated pistol round resounded from within the cabin.

_**"Aedan!"**_ she shouted, pounding on the door until she realized it was locked. She typed furiously away at her omni-tool.

_Is he hurt? Under attack? Did an assassin slip in the last time they were on Illium?_ She blocked out her questions as she hacked the door in seconds. Immediately she ran through the door, eyes frantically searching for her commander.

He was sitting on the luxurious couch in the lounge area, facing the aquarium. Over a dozen empty bottles of whiskey, bourbon, and other human liquors were on the coffee table; its once-immaculate surface besmirched by spilt alcohol. Several shot glasses were haphazardly laid out as well.

Enclosed in his trembling hands was the customized M-6 Carnifex pistol he always kept hidden underneath his pillow, fresh smoke pluming from the barrel. The firearm hung loosely from fingers, the business end pointing at the floor.

His eyes were bloodshot and his skin soaked with sweat, almost as if he had been running from a thresher maw for hours on end. He didn't even seem to acknowledge her presence, let alone that he had fired his pistol. A whiff of smoke from the ceiling caught her attention. A neat, fresh bullet hole was lodged right near the skylight.

_Why...?_ she thought, slowly piecing together the puzzle before her. _Why would he shoot..._

It took her less than a second to finally understand what he almost did.

She turned back to Aedan, who still stared off into space.

"Why..." she started, taking a tentative step toward him, ignoring the tears in her eyes. "Why would you ever—"

"—I don't think I ever told you this," Aedan interrupted, casually reaching out with his left hand to take another swig from a whiskey bottle. "But when I joined up with the Alliance, I wanted to make a difference in the galaxy. Prevent what happened to my family from happening to anyone else. Save humanity from the big, bad batarians raiding our colonies like wolves eating sheep."

He sighed, putting the bottle down while still staring at the wall. "For a time, I really thought I could do that. I survived boot camp, got accepted to N-school near the top of my class, even worked my way up the ranks to N7 status. The Skyllian Blitz was no picnic. We lost some good people on Elysium, but most of the civilians made it out alive thanks to us."

Tali stood motionless, not sure what to do other than listen.

"I never grew close to anyone. Sure, there was the occasional fling here and there, and Anderson was there, of course, but I never let anyone in. I focused on protecting humanity. Seeing our colonies flourish with smiling families and kids playing in the fields with nothing to worry about was good enough for me.

He took another drink. "Then I got transferred to the _Normandy_, and Eden Prime happened. I became a Spectre, met you and the others, and the whole hunt for Saren began. Once again I set out to save people, though on a grander scale. Millions were at risk, and we succeeded. We lost Ash, and well...that still haunts me," he paused, closing his eyes for a respectful moment before continuing. "But we did it. We saved the entire galaxy. It didn't matter if no one believed us about the Reapers, so long as everyone was safe for now. There was time to prepare, to track down evidence and make them see the truth. That's what I kept telling myself."

"Well...yes," Tali started, still nervous while Aedan had the Carnifex in his hand. It didn't take a scan with her omni-tool to tell he was drunk. "We saved them, Aedan. And you saved us as well, you know."

He grinned sheepishly at that. "I'd be lying if I said you guys didn't grow on me along the way. I'd never served with so many non-humans before, though I've never been opposed to it. It's funny; I grew closer to you, Garrus, Wrex, and Liara more than anyone else from my own species. We were like family."

He stopped, the Carnifex dangerously rattling in his shaking hands.

"And then I died," he whispered.

Tali again remained silent, a flurry of emotions threatening to return when she thought about the worst two years of her life.

"But by some divine miracle...or maybe a prank, I don't know, I'm resurrected by the very organization we swore to dismantle, piece by miserable piece." He laughed a bit before downing even more whiskey. "I wake up after losing two years of my life, they tell me. Two years? Two, fucking, years you'll never get back!? And then they stick some fancy tech in me, enough so that I'm not even fully human anymore. Hell, it takes eight full bottles of liquor to even feel a goddamn buzz. I can't even get drunk enough to forget for awhile that I was a fucking corpse!"

Tali watched in horror as Aedan stood up and threw a shot glass against the wall, sending shards everywhere. He seethed for a moment before sitting back down, playing absentmindedly with the Carnifex in his hands, breathing heavily.

"It...wasn't easy for any of us," Tali said. "Nothing was the same after you left us."

Aedan swallowed a lump in his throat, his breathing slowing back down. "I know. Seeing you on Freedom's Progress certainly wasn't. It's a miracle I even made it off of Omega with my sanity intact, let alone everywhere else that goddamn suicide mission led us."

Tali took a cautions step toward him. "Aedan—"

"—but, after awhile, I guess I sort of accepted it," he continued. "I mean, yeah it wasn't perfect, but at least I'm still me rather than some cheap Cerberus clone thinking it's me. Thankfully, I had Garrus here to get hammered with. He was just as fucked up as I was, which was fine with me. We made quite a pair, the two of us. Late night stops at the Dark Star while in dry dock, lumbering back to the _Normandy_ at four a.m.—"

He took another breath, staring intently at the Carnifex. "We recruited homicidal maniacs, mercenaries, thieves, assassins—everyone we could to save those colonists. And all the while I took shit from the Alliance and the Council for working with terrorists. That might've been true, but at least I was actually trying to save those colonists instead of sticking my thumb up my ass and pretending everything's all sunshine and rainbows!" he yelled, seething before he calmed down again. "But then...Haestrom happened."

He stared back down at the Carnifex. "I almost lost Garrus to a missile on Omega, and I would have been damned if I lost you too. Getting to you was my only priority; nothing else mattered unless it was a survivor. Every geth in my way, I obliterated as quickly as possible. I took Garrus, Grunt, and Kasumi with me. It got to a point where Garrus became the de-facto leader since I kept rushing ahead."

Tali was quiet, horrid memories of that mission and the deaths of her team replaying themselves in her mind while she absorbed Aedan's words.

"The truth is, Tali...you were almost always on my mind after Freedom's Progress. Having you aboard again...I don't think you really know how much you saved me."

He finally looked up at Tali, and she finally noticed how puffy and wet they were. _Is he...crying? I've never seen him cry, not even after Virmire._

"Me?" Tali asked, humoring him. The sooner she got that Carnifex out of his hands, the better.

"Yes, you," Aedan repeated, choking up a bit. "You...you made me feel like myself again. You know, like...feel like there's still hope in the galaxy, that it hadn't gone completely bat-shit crazy like I thought. You...you're my...I don't know. I don't know what I'd..."

Tali took that moment to close the distance. It was now or never. Carefully, she moved in front of him, crouching down to his level.

"Aedan...give me the pistol. You don't need it anymore, right?" she whispered gently.

He shook his head, tears starting to fall as he held the handle out.. She gingerly dislodged every finger from it before turning on the safety and ejecting the thermal clip. The weapon clattered harmlessly to the floor as Aedan grabbed onto her, sobbing uncontrollably into her shoulder.

_He's broken_, she slowly realized. _This mission actually broke him._

"It's alright," she shushed him, holding her close. "It's okay, I'm here."

He was in near hysterics by this point. "No it's not! I..._**God Tali, I killed them all!**_" he screamed.

"What?" Tali asked as Aedan pulled back, looking a far cry away from the man everyone else saw him as.

"They're all dead," he whispered. "They were batarians, but they were still innocent civilians. And I condemned them to death!"

Tali stood up and climbed on the sofa, pulling Aedan to her gently as she stroked his hair. "Aedan, what happened down there?"

Tali listened intently as Aedan recounted his mission to Aratoht to rescue Dr. Amanda Kenson, and the nightmare that ensued. He told her of the asteroid where Kenson and her team were originally going to use to destroy the Mass Relay, all to prevent the Reapers from using it to invade. Her heart hurt as he told her how every one of them were indoctrinated by the very artifact they were studying, and how he was knocked out for two days, leaving only minutes to choose between the lives of an entire system full of thousands, or the trillions in the rest of the galaxy.

When he finally finished, Tali was speechless. She couldn't begin to understand what it must have been like to be in Aedan's position, holding the fates of so many lives in his hands.

"I tried to warn them, but Kenson jammed all communications," he choked. "I mean, how can you ever make a choice like that? What right did I have?"

"You did the right thing," Tali said. "I know it doesn't feel like it, but it was the best option at the time. You didn't kill those people, the Reapers did. And the same goes for those colonists the Collectors abducted. You blamed yourself for not saving the ones that were harvested, but how could you? We barely survived as it is. You can't save everyone, Aedan"

He nodded, though she didn't think he believed her.

"Missing colonists don't compare to an entire system," Aedan muttered. "No one's ever destroyed a Mass Relay before. I...I don't deserve to live for this—"

_SLAP!_

_"Bosh'tet!"_ Tali yelled as Aedan stared at her in shock. "Don't...don't you ever say that again," she hissed. "Is that why you tried to kill yourself? Because you did your best? Ancestors, Aedan, look at yourself! Don't you think this is exactly what the Reapers want you to do? What were you thinking?! This isn't the man who selflessly gave me one of the greatest pilgrimage gifts my people have ever seen! Think about all the lives you _did_ save!"

"Tali, I—"

"Don't," Tali said, pushing away from him while hugging herself tightly. "Don't you understand how much you matter to all of us? To _me_? Did you even think about anyone other than yourself when you put that pistol to your head?"

He stayed silent, staring at the wall again like she found him before. She waited for a response, a retort...anything, really. He remained motionless.

Close to tears by now, she started walking out of the room, taking the Carnifex with her.

"...I did."

The words were soft, but enough to stop her. He was looking straight at her, though with more raw emotion in those blue eyes of his than she'd seen all night. "It's why I pulled away at the last moment. Everyone's faces went through my mind. Yours especially, Tali. I...I don't know...I...I..."

The alcohol finally started to take its toll on his body as Aedan closed his eyes and passed out cold.

Gently dislodging herself, she cleaned up the glass and the bottles and threw them all in the waste disposal chute. She went through every centimeter of the cabin and chucked any alcohol she found, even the dextro stuff that probably belonged to Garrus.

_I don't care if they're angry with me later, he's not touching another drop of this stuff! _

Aedan hadn't moved an inch once she was done. She debated moving him to the bed, but he was far too heavy. Finally, she settled on turning him to his side and throwing a blanket over him. With only the aquarium and the stars above for light, she took his head into her lap, playing with his hair absentmindedly and running her fingers through it. She stayed that way for most of the night until she passed out as well.

* * *

Things changed for the better between them after that night, and though neither of them mentioned what occurred, Tali had a feeling Aedan remembered every detail. He swore off drinking for good from that moment onward (the awful hangover he suffered from the next day probably helped). Though Garrus asked some questions about it at first, he didn't dig around for the real reason. Neither did Kasumi or the others.

The next day, Hackett arrived unexpectedly for a personal debriefing. A few weeks later, the _Normandy_ was ordered to Earth by Alliance Command with the risk of being labeled fugitives if Aedan didn't comply.

He'd been true to his word about sobriety, but with this latest setback on Thessia, Tali feared the worst as she waited impatiently for the elevator to finish ascending.

When the doors finally opened, she rushed out, much like she did almost eight months earlier. The door wasn't locked this time, but it was still eerily silent. She jogged in, eyes looking around the darkened room for Aedan.

He was almost in the same place as before, staring at the aquarium this time as its denizens roamed lazily around their habitat, oblivious to the troubles of the universe.

"Aedan?"

He looked up, a haggard mess, but sober to her relief. "Hey," he whispered. Before he could say another word she took off her mask and went over to him, hugging him close and kissing his cheek.

"When Garrus told me how you reacted, I thought about...well, last time."

"I was tempted," he said as she pulled away, looking at him. "Anderson kept a small stash underneath the desk. Almost unlocked it, but then I thought about...well, Bahak."

Her eyes softened as he sighed, looking back at the aquarium. "Like you said Tali, I can't save them all."

"No," Tali replied, resting her head on his shoulder, "but that doesn't make it your fault, either."

"It's not about fault. I was supposed to stop them."

"And you will."

"I hope so, Tali. It was just as bad as Earth. I...I don't know if I can keep doing this. Earth, Palaven, now Thessia? I'm risking everything to build the Crucible, and I'm not even sure what it does! Who am I to make that call?"

"Look at me," Tali said, gently turning his head so that his eyes locked with hers. "You're the one who was always right. All along. You fought when no one else would. When no one else believed you. And if's that not enough to convince you...you're the man I love. Don't forget that, no matter what happens."

She pulled him in for a kiss, which he returned wholeheartedly to her relief.

For the next two hours they comforted each other until exhaustion took them both; a brief respite from a war that, for many, was starting to look hopeless.

* * *

**Yes, I'm back baby! Hey all, Sheik here. Thanks for all the favs/follows and reviews I've gotten for this story, and my apologies for the long delay—a ten-week internship, a summer class, work and job searching have all been consuming my time (not to mention I got a bit out of Mass Effect and played Bioshock 1, Infinite and Batman Arkham Asylum since they were cheap on Amazon (working on Arkham City on occasion). After that game and Bioshock 2, I'm taking a break from games, and will devote all free time not spent replaying ME2 and 3 to writing my stories and making it so this, "Heart of Steel," and "Insurrection" are my only ongoing projects aside from original fiction. **

**Sorry if this chapter was heavy on the feels, this is probably as far as I'm going with the heavily-depressing stuff for now. Thessia was kind of the climax for intense emotional stuff (though there still might be some here and there for the remaining chapters), so expect some more light-hearted moments coming up. **

**Not much else to say except there's more to come, thanks again for all your support and for making this story such a joy to work on, and please take the time to review! They make my day and let me gauge how you're all feeling. Later!**

**-Sheik**


	10. Envy

**-Envy-**

_**-Two Weeks Ago  
**__**Systems Alliance Frigate **_**Normandy SR-2**_**, CIC (Combat Information Center)**_

Aedan watched the holographic Milky Way swirl lazily in front of his usual spot at the head of the CIC as the _Normandy's_ crew performed their usual duties. In particular, his gaze was fixed on the informational display of one particular planet.

The_ Normandy_ was currently within the Iera System of the Shadow Sea, in orbit above the human colony world, Horizon. The last time he was there, he was working with Cerberus and faced the Collectors for the first time. Now, however, the colony supposedly housed a "safe-haven" from the war. Aptly named "Sanctuary," it was a refuge that supposedly housed millions according to the advertisments. If that was the case, then why did it and the primary human settlements appear to be completely deserted?

_Reminds me too much of Freedom's Progress,_ Aedan shuddered. _Something's wrong, I can feel it. It can't be a coincidence that Kai Leng's signal disappeared in this area._

The _Normandy_ was here based on Specialist Traynor's quick thinking, which Aedan found out about the morning after Thessia. In his absence (and because Kaiden was with Liara all night, to everyone's suspicion), Garrus ordered Joker to follow up on Traynor's lead after the signal pointed to Horizon.

For about the hundredth time now, he was thankful Garrus decided to be his XO.

"Still no response to our hails, Commander," Specialist Traynor spoke up from her station. "Orders?"

Aedan stared at the display for a moment longer, gripping the steel safety bars. He finally turned to Traynor, his emotions carefully masked behind eleven years of military discipline.

"We're going in. Have Kaiden come up to the CIC, he'll be in charge of the _Normandy_ while I'm groundside."

Traynor saluted as Aedan rushed past her and headed for the elevator. "EDI, tell Garrus and Tali to meet me in the cargo hold as soon as they're able. Have Cortez prep one of the Kodiaks for a drop. Also, make sure Lieutenant Vega's ready to go with Liara and Javik at a moment's notice if we need backup."

_"At once, Shepard." _

The elevator's doors closed as it lowered him toward the cargo hold, but abruptly stopped at Deck Four. As the doors opened, Aedan's hardened eyes softened slightly as Tali walked in, hitting the button that closed the doors behind them.

"Aedan, what's going on?" Tali asked, taking a spot next to him as the elevator resumed its descent.

"Not sure," Aedan replied, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. "Remember those ads we saw about 'Sanctuary?' Turns out it's on Horizon. What's strange is that Traynor didn't pick up any comm. traffic at all. Can't be a coincidence Leng's signal went dark there."

Tali picked up on his line of thinking almost immediately, as if their minds were joined. Yet another sign of how close their bond was. "Cerberus might have something to do with this."

"Exactly," Aedan sighed as the elevator slowed. "Suit up and be prepared to find anything you can imagine down there. Hopefully we'll find Leng and survivors, but...I'd expect the worst."

She took a moment to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze. "Whatever happens, I'm right behind you."

* * *

_**-Several Hours Later  
**__**Systems Alliance Frigate**_ **Normandy SR-2,** _**Captain's Cabin**_

None of them were prepared for what they found on Horizon. Sanctuary turned out to be the closest thing Aedan could compare to a living hell. Nothing, not even what he'd seen at the asari monastery, could compare to the nightmare he led his team into.

It was all a front for a Cerberus research installation, though this one put all the others Aedan and his crew shut down over the years to shame. Not even the bases testing Thorian Creepers or bio-engineered Rachni compared to what they found.

Every single refugee was killed by Cerberus; sacrificed and turned into husks and other abominations so that the Illusive Man and his cronies could study the effects of indoctrination. It made other Cerberus horrors like Project Overlord look like child's play.

All those lives, just so that _**monster **_could satisfy his insane obsession with controlling the Reapers. To top it all off, the project was headed by Dr. Henry Lawson, Miranda's power-hungry father. Fortunately for Miranda and her sister, Oriana, Aedan's team arrived just in time to give Miranda the chance she needed to save her sister and put her father down for good.

Aedan had offered a ride back to the Citadel on the _Normandy_, but Miranda was insistent about taking her own shuttle to an Alliance base herself. She did promise to keep in touch, however.

"I'm glad Miranda got to finally put a bullet in dear-ol' dad; maybe now once the war's over, she and Oriana can live in peace. Plus, at least now we have a solid lead on Lieutenant-Bastard Kai Leng," Garrus spoke up from his place on the couch. "Miranda's bug is bound to transmit coordinates sometime soon. Then we can finally wipe Cerberus out for good."

"Yes, but we need to make sure Kai Leng's really at Cerberus HQ if we're going to strike," Liara said from next to him. "As we've seen, Cerberus isn't stupid. I've had my agents stage attacks on several of their bases in the past few months, some of them reported to be central command. Each one turned out to be a dummy."

Garrus nodded. "Not surprising considering how slippery the Illusive Man is. Plus, we still need more time to finish the Crucible. At least, that's what Victus told me. We're getting there, but it still needs a few more finishing touches."

"That reminds me, I need to check in with my contacts there," Liara said, rising from the couch as she walked to the door.

"I'll see you both later. Don't work too hard, Shepard."

Aedan grunted with a nod from his desk as he finished up his mission report. He was mashing the interface harder than normal. Actually, he'd been stone-faced ever since they came back from Horizon.

_All those innocents. Entire families even, just looking for a safe haven. And we never even suspected it. The Illusive Man will pay for __**every**__ innocent life he murdered in that hellhole! I'll kill him myself!_

"Shepard? You with me?"

"Huh?" Aedan looked up, snapping out of his thoughts. "Oh, sorry Garrus. Did you ask me something? And where'd Liara go?"

"She just left, had to go do Shadow Broker stuff," Garrus chucked. "I asked where Tali was. Didn't her shift end a half-hour ago? Thought you'd know since you two are, you know...together?"

Aedan looked at the time on his omni-tool, completely puzzled. "EDI?"

_"Yes, Shepard?"_ the AI responded through the intercom.

"Do you know where Tali is?" Aedan asked.

_"One moment,"_ EDI said before responding a few seconds later. _"Major Alenko reports that she is in the Port Observation Lounge. He also wishes to add that she's requesting your presence, and that you should get down there immediately."_

"Any idea why?"

As if on cue, his omni-tool pinged with a new text message:

_**"hey Aedan im in teh lounge havinga drink, wanna hwlp?"**_

"Uh oh," Aedan muttered before immediately getting up and shutting off his omni-tool.

"What's up?" Garrus asked.

"I think Tali might've found your stash."

"Ohh...right. Crap, I had some fine turian brandy stocked away for our victory party, too. Better get down there before she takes her mask off and dances on the poker table or something." He paused for a moment before another thought hit him. "Actually Shepard, I don't think I've ever seen Tali drunk before. What kind is she?"

"Dunno, I haven't either," Aedan admitted. "You mean you're not worried about her?"

"Well...not really. Come on, it's Tali we're talking about. She'll probably pass out after the first bottle."

"Regardless, I should go see her," Aedan sighed. "Can you finish filling out the Horizon mission report for me and send it off to Hackett when you get a moment?"

He sighed. "Oh joy, paperwork. Fine, but you owe me a drink on the Citadel when we get there."

"Will do. I'll send you what I have so far on my way down," Aedan added as he made a beeline for the elevator. "EDI, once Garrus leaves, could you run a quick decontamination cycle in here?"

_"Of course. I'll also have Doctor Chakwas on standby, just in case."_

"Don't know what I'd do without you, EDI," Aedan said as the agonizingly-slow elevator closed its doors.

_"Though I do not support it, Jeff said to, quote, 'take plenty of pictures and video for your home movie collection.'"_

"Of course he did," Aedan grumbled. "Tell him Tali will hack his omni-tool so it will play only elcor porn for a week straight if he spies on us with the cameras. As for me, I'll do much worse than that."

_"He won't, Shepard. That is, unless he wants me to 'accidently' delete his Galaxy of Fantasy account."_

* * *

"Shepard! Wanna drink? Oh wait...you can't! Silly me..."

Aedan didn't know whether to be pissed off, mortified...or rolling on the floor laughing his ass off at the sight that greeted him when he arrived. Kaiden warned him, but no amount of warning could have prepared him to see his quarian girlfriend rocking back and forth in her seat at the bar, a straw poked out of a sterilized container in her hands.

"Yeah..." Aedan scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to say. "Um, why are you drinking alone, Tali?"

"Drinking? Um...oh! I'm toasting Miranda...I think."

"Is that so?" Aedan asked, taking a seat next to her. "Wait, how are you getting drunk?"

"_Veryy_ carefully," Tali slurred. "Turian brandy, triple filtered, then introduced into the suit through an emergency, induction port."

Aedan was completely lost as she gestured to the plastic tube sticking out of her drink. "Um...that's a straw Tali."

"_E-emergency..._induction...port," she sounded out. "It's actually getting a little harder to get it into the slot. I think that means it's working."

"Right," Aedan sighed. _It's gonna be a long night. Best roll with it for now, I guess._

"She was so rude," Tali continued. "What did Jack call her? 'Cerberus cheerleader?' With her perfect genes, and that attitude, and...and still, she got it done. She stopped her father."

"I didn't realize this would be so hard on you," he said. _I thought the thousands of dead refugees would be the reason. At least that I could understand. But what's Miranda and her father have to do with it?_

"I didn't like her. Keelah, she was such a bitch!" Tali sighed. "But I respected her. Sometimes that's better than liking. She did whatever it took to stop her father. She never gave into him. Never changed herself to please him."

_So that is what this is about,_ Aedan thought. Now he was starting to see the picture. "Ahh."

"Don't 'ahh' me! You sound like a vorcha," she scolded.

He chuckled. "Seeing a bit of yourself in Miranda fighting her father, huh?"

"Yes!" Tali exclaimed. "Ancestors, I spent my life trying to live up to him, then making up for his mistakes, doing what he'd have wanted."

"Except it's never that easy," Aedan mused.

"Aedan, when do we get to stop reacting to our parents and start living for ourselves?"

_Ah, what the hell. Not like she drinks much anyway._ "I wouldn't know, mine are gone, remember? But I think the answer to that one is at the bottom of that glass," he said.

"I might need help with the induction straw. Port. You know."

"Sure," Aedan said, walking around the bar for a root beer. "How about some company too?"

"But what about..."

"I said company, not drinking buddy," Aedan laughed. "And before you say it, no I'm not mad at you. Hell I'm surprised you didn't do this sooner with all you've been going through."

He sat back down, popping the bottle cap and taking a gulp. She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment before she shot up laughing.

"I can't believe this! I'm having a drink with my boyfriend. My _human_ boyfriend. Hah! My father would have _hated_ you."

"Wasn't a fan of humans?"

"Nope!" she chirped. "Wanted me to bond with a quarian! Said being with a human wasn't befitting a 'proud daughter of the Migrant Fleet.' He didn't even once come by to ask me how I was doing after you...well..."

_Asshole._ "Here's to him, then," Aedan interrupted, trying to maneuver away from _that_ particular topic.

"And, to Miranda!" Tali added. "Nice job, you genetically perfect Cerberus cheerleader _bosh'tet_. _Keelah se'lai_!"

They both took another drink, setting their drinks down with two loud _thunks_.

* * *

_**-Eight Hours Later  
**__**Systems Alliance Frigate **_**Normandy SR-2**_**, Captain's Cabin**_

Aedan had only been back in their room for a few minutes when Tali finally stirred.

"_Ugh_," she groaned, holding her head as she started to rise. She paused when she noticed her suit was on, but her visor and helmet gear were missing. Frantically she looked around for them, but once she realized where she was (and the amused figure looking down at her fondly), she collapsed back onto the bed.

"How're you feeling?" Aedan asked, walking down the steps and taking a seat next to her.

"Like I just spent three hours with you in the Mako..."

"Oh come on, I wasn't that bad."

"Yes you were, you lying _bosh'tet_!" she giggled. "I've never seen a krogan turn several different shades of green when taking out geth turrets. Let's not forget the time you made Garrus nearly hyperventilate on Feros when you flew off the road..."

Aedan laughed at that. "The look on his face was priceless when I landed on that colossus!"

"Mhm...ugh," Tali moaned. "Speaking of dry heaving—"

" —Here," Aedan placed an empty waste basket next to his bed as Tali sat up and leaned over. Without a word he readied a glass of water and held it out to her when she was done. "At least dextros and levos both drink water."

Tali nodded as she downed the cup, a sour look on her face as she put the glass down. "Sorry about that. My head is pounding and I'm pretty sure I'll be getting at least a mild infection. Really, Aedan? I don't understand why people do this for fun."

Aedan smirked as he sat down next to her again. "It depends on the situation. Some like doing it because it loosens them up, like a date for example. Humans call it 'liquid courage' in those instances."

"And what about you? I mean, if this is how you felt every time you woke up, why would you poison yourself like this?"

The mirth left Aedan's eyes as Tali's own softened. "To forget," he muttered. "That's another thing humans use alcohol for. It makes us forget things, at least for awhile. But it can be dangerous when you don't realize what you're doing. Not to mention it's addicting. It can get as bad as an addiction to red sand if you let it."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"—it's fine," Aedan cut her off, entwining one of his hands with hers as he stared up at the bullet hole that was still visible if one knew where to look. "That night happened, and I've left it behind me. Never did get a chance to say thank you, by the way."

"Please, there's no need," Tali said. "And, if you'd rather I not drink as well, I could..."

"Nah," Aedan waved his other hand. "Do what you want. I won't stop you if you do. Just, well...don't drink alone again, okay?" He cracked a smile, lightening the mood. "At least tell me first so I know when to cut you off next time."

Tali groaned. "How much?"

"Before I got there? About two bottles of Garrus' turian brandy. Sterilized, of course. You finished half of another before I cut you off."

"And, I didn't...do anything questionable last night, did I?"

"Well, you did confess your undying love for Garrus and started dancing on the bar—"

She swatted him on the arm. "_B__osh'tet,_ I did not!"

"Oh good, your memory's intact!" Aedan laughed. "What do you last remember?"

"Mmm...I think it was after we toasted Miranda. Or was it my father?"

"Both actually," Aedan said. "And relax, we just talked for a bit before you passed out. I carried you up here and fell asleep on the couch. I just got back from meeting with Hackett, actually."

"What time is it?"

"About 1300, give or take."

"_Keelah!_ Adams is going to kill me," Tali exclaimed as she started to rise.

"Relax," Aedan soothed as he pulled her back down. "I told him you weren't feeling well so he gave you the day off. Not much to do anyway except wait 'till we get to the Citadel."

"Wait, the Citadel?" Tali questioned. "Shouldn't we be preparing to assault Cerberus' main base?"

"Change of plans. Actually, care for a late breakfast? Just let me shower first and I'll tell you all about it. The rest of the crew already knows."

"Sure," Tali said as Aedan helped her to her feet. As the water turned on she started running some suit diagnostics on her omni-tool and checked her e-mail. That is, until she found a select few messages to certain crew members that were badly worded.

_Keelah,_ Tali thought, completely mortified as she read through the ones she sent Javik and Aedan in particular. _What happened to my spellchecker?_

* * *

**Whooo! We're finally heading to the Citadel! From here-on, we'll be exploring select moments covered in the Citadel DLC (with my own personal touches, of course) and catching up to the time period established in the first chapter. Thanks for the awesome response last chapter, guys! I got some very helpful and encouraging reviews, and it's given me extra motivation to keep going! Anyway, not much else to say here really. This chapter wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be to write. Might be because I'm doing another run-through of ME2 and 3 right now as FemShep (out of curiosity's sake. Romancing Garrus, and I must say, I can see why Shakarians are so enthusiastic. Don't get me wrong, I miss Tali lots and I'll always be a Talimancer first and foremost. But for FemShep, I'm definitely a Shakarian, haha). **

**I do wish this chapter was a bit more exciting/longer, but well, it is what it is. The Citadel stuff will be far more interesting, I promise, haha. Expect a little action, lots of fun times to be had, and of course, more Tali/Shepard fluff!**

**Anyway, thanks like always everyone for reading/reviewing/fav/following. I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can, but it might be another week or two depending on what happens in my personal life (transitioning jobs). Please review if you could! **

**-Sheik**


	11. Forgiveness

**-Forgiveness-**

_**-Six Days Ago  
**__**Citadel, Upper Presidium**_

_BANG!_

"Hell yeah! Right though the center!"

Garrus feigned a cough. "Lucky shot," he muttered as he loaded another thermal clip into his Mantis.

"Lucky? That's pure skill, big guy!" Aedan laughed as he returned to one of the two black lounge chairs with his own Mantis, a gust of wind rustling his hair. Clad in a simple pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt, he took a drink of soda from one of the containers resting on the fold-out table between the chairs and leaned the sniper rifle against it.

"Sure, Shepard, sure. Step aside—let me show you how a _real_ marksman shoots," Garrus quipped as he stood up, heading over to the dozen empty glass bottles they had set up in a line near the edge of the walkway they were parked on. A walkway that happened to be one of the highest ones on the entire Presidium.

_I thought he was crazy when he suggested it_, Aedan thought. _But damn, this is probably the most fun I've had in quite awhile!_

It took a few days longer to reach the Citadel than normal thanks to alternative, randomized Mass Relay jumps; a new safety precaution to prevent the Reapers from discovering the Serpent Nebula. The _Normandy_ was currently in dry-dock, and until further notice, almost the entire crew was on shore-leave. He wasn't entirely sure what the others were up to, only that Tali mentioned she had some Migrant Fleet business to take care of first. Fortunately Garrus wasn't nearly as busy; instead, he rented a skycar, grabbed some supplies from the _Normandy_, and suggested they do "something fun for a change."

_If Tali ever finds out, she's going to kill us,_ Aedan grinned. According to Garrus, they were breaking around 137 regulations right now. But, as he so elegantly stated, _"Right now, I just don't give a damn."_

Speaking of Garrus, the former vigilante was carefully lining up his shot, adjusting the scope on his Mantis while his arms remained as rigid as a statue's. The optical blue eye-piece he always wore (a customized, turian version of Aedan's own Kuwashii Visor) flashed with a flurry of calculations and data.

"Careful Garrus, it might get up and walk away," Aedan said. The sound of shattered glass was his answer.

"Walk away?" Garrus asked. "Hmm, you just gave me an idea. Grab one of the good bottles."

Shrugging, Aedan got up while the turian emptied the spent shell casing in his Mantis, automatically chambering another.

"Okay, now what?"

"Now, we get to settle one thing, once and for all..." Garrus said ominously. "Not saying you don't know how to handle a gun, obviously," he gestured to the broken bottles on the edge of their line. "But some of us know how to make it dance, especially when the target's moving."

"We're throwing bottles now?"

"You guessed it. Now we'll _really _find out who's the best shot."

_Why didn't I think of that? _Aedan wondered. "Hate to break it to you buddy, but there are a few people who've seen me in action. They seem impressed."

"Yeah, but I've actually seen you dance, Shepard. No comment."

"That's it Vakarian, you're going down!"

Garrus laughed. "Now that's more like it," he said as he took the bottle from Aedan. "Oh and don't worry, I brought practice slugs for when you miss."

Aedan smirked as he raised his Mantis. A moment later, the bottle went sailing into the air, and a resounding shot blasted it out of the air.

"That was an easy one. Let you build up your confidence."

"Sure..." Aedan said as Garrus picked up his Mantis and another bottle, tossing it to Aedan.

"Long range, I wrote the book. Nobody alive can do this, not even the legendary Commander Shepard. Give me a tough one."

"If you say so," Aedan said as he waited for Garrus to ready his Mantis. With as much strength as he could muster, Aedan threw the bottle. Again, a piercing shot and broken glass filled the air.

"I said a tough one!" Garrus chuckled.

"You asked for it," Aedan said. "Step aside!"

As he cocked the Mantis and raised it, Aedan thought more and more about their little competition. Sure, if the cybernetics and enhanced eyesight were taken into account, Aedan would easily outclass Garrus. But the turian did have an ego (and reputation) to uphold. Would it be so bad to let him have this one victory?

_I do owe him a few,_ w_hat with the way I've been acting and all. Plus, not like anyone else besides us would know. At least, I hope so. I don't think he and his ego could make it back aboard the _Normandy_._

"Here it comes!" Garrus said.

Aedan saw the bottle enter his vision as his eyes automatically zoomed in on it. He could guess its maximum height along with the optimum time to fire. But instead of listening to his usual instincts, just this once, he fired early.

The shot went slightly above the bottle as it fell to the lake below.

"I'm Garrus Vakarian, and this is now my favorite spot on the Citadel!" Garrus declared.

"It's windy up here," Aedan said halfheartedly.

"Think I'm going to erect a monument right here—bronze this gun so the whole galaxy knows."

"What, that you're the king of the bottle shooters? Glad you're around Garrus, never know when the bottles might revolt."

Garrus laughed hard at that as he walked back to their lounge chairs, setting down his Mantis and drinking some more beer as Aedan followed.

"You know, I'm glad we did this Garrus," Aedan sighed, reclining back in his chair as Garrus opened another dextro beer. He took a swig, leaning back in his own chair.

"Figured it was time to do something stupid for the hell of it. This might be our last chance."

"Yeah..." Aedan trailed off, thoughts drifting back to the war briefly.

"So now what? Want to line up some more bottles? I saved plenty from the compactor."

"How about a dip in the pool?" Aedan joked, pointing over the edge to the lake below. "Would be quite the dive from here."

"You obviously haven't seen turians swim. It's a lot of flailing and splashing interrupted by occasional bouts of drowning."

"It's fine, I'd just have to save your ass again."

"It'd make up for all the times I pulled your ass out of the fire." Garrus sighed. "We've had a hell of a ride, haven't we Shepard?"

"We have," Aedan said, eyes watching the distant Citadel traffic. "And you know, it's times like these when you realize who your real friends are. They're not the ones running around looking for an escape route. They're the ones who stand at your side through the worst of it, who never give up on you. Even when you might deserve it."

Aedan swallowed a lump building in his throat. "I know I haven't exactly been myself lately."

"Well yeah, you stopped drinking alcohol, for one."

"There's a good reason for that, but..."

"It's okay, you don't have to explain. Liara told me it's between you and Tali. I'll respect that."

"Thanks," Aedan said. "Anyway, you didn't ask to be my XO, but you did it regardless. You kept the crew together when I clearly couldn't. For that and so much more Garrus, you have my eternal gratitude."

"You've always taken the worst of everything, Shepard. The firefights, the fallout, the ridicule. Being there's the least I and the rest of us can do."

"All the same, that's something that a true friend does. And I'm lucky to say I know someone like that."

"So am I," Garrus replied. He looked over at Aedan, the turian equivalent of a grin on his mandibles. "You're not going to propose marriage now, are you?"

Aedan nearly fell out of his chair laughing. "I don't think Tali would appreciate that."

"Probably not. I'd rather _not_ wake up to a shotgun in my face, thanks. Got enough scars as it is."

* * *

_**-Several Hours Later  
Citadel, Presidium Commons**_

_Hmm, she said she'd be waiting somewhere around here._

Aedan searched what felt like the entire park area for his favorite quarian, though it was easier said than done because of how busy this part of the Presidum had become lately. Unfortunately, her e-mail wasn't too specific on exactly _where _she'd be waiting. The Cerberus attack had put everyone on edge. Patrons barely kept up with customers of almost all different races who bought weapons, armor, food, and other supplies. C-Sec humans and turians remained vigilant, standard-issue Avenger assault rifles at the ready at nearly every turn.

For once, quarians were a rarity to see on the Citadel since most decided to stay on Rannoch, serve in the Migrant Fleet, or help with the Crucible (though the Migrant Fleet Marines were actively participating in joint Alliance operations against both the Reapers and Cerberus). It made finding Tali that much easier.

Aedan and Garrus said their good-byes a few hours ago. His XO wasn't specific on what was so important that he actually had to change out of his armor for. Aedan had a sneaking suspicion it was a date. What else other than formal meetings would cause Garrus of all people to worry about appearances? Of course Aedan was curious, but he figured Garrus would tell him in due time. Since then he had a pleasant lunch by the lake with Kaiden, restocked on some supplies, and even bought a few "special" items for both himself and Tali later on. But now, he was eager to grab dinner with Tali and finally go check out Anderson's apartment with her on the Silversun Strip.

After what felt like hours, Aedan finally spotted her familiar purple shawl with the tribal designs of Clan Zorah proudly weaved onto it. As he approached, he noticed she was talking to a well-dressed turian he didn't recognize.

"...of course. We can have ships at the colony in thirty-six hours. Do you need medical support?"

"No, evacuating the colony is more than enough. Thank you, Ambassador," the turian said as he walked away. Aedan took this opportunity to pop up.

"Ambassador, huh?"

Tali spun around in shock, but calmed down when she saw who it was.

"Again, more of a formality. I'm coordinating actions for the fleet while we're here. Evacuating colonies, bolstering turian defense lines...things like that."

"All in a day's work, huh?" Aedan smirked, however it quickly disappeared when Tali gave an audible sigh. "What's wrong?"

She grabbed the fabric of his leather N7 jacket and gently led him to the railing so that they were away from the crowds. The fountains in the distant lakes were soothing to watch. Tali idly played with his hand a bit before continuing as they leaned over the side.

"You know, I think it was right here. Three years ago to the day."

"Huh? What was?"

Tali gestured to where they were standing. "This was where Saren's assassins fired at me. I'd just gotten to the Citadel. I didn't think I needed my barriers up. My mistake."

"That was right before you went to Dr. Michel, right?"

Tali nodded. "Yes. I disabled the geth and found that recording that proved he was working with the Reapers. I went to Illium and tried to inform the authorities, but Saren's mercenaries attacked me. I barely escaped. I stowed away on a turian freighter and came out here. I thought I was safe."

"Illium?" Aedan asked. "You never told me the details."

"The conversation you saw in the Shadow Broker's archives only tells part of the story. I didn't bother with specifics when I went to him for help."

"How bad was it?"

"They got me in the arm, used polonium rounds. I was running a fever in minutes." She sighed, gripping his hand a bit tighter. Aedan gave it a reassuring squeeze. "It was the first time I'd really been hurt on my Pilgrimage. I ran to the Council Embassy, asked for protection, offered the data on Saren."

She started to shake a bit, but didn't let go of his hand. "The turian clerk called me 'suit rat.' He threatened to have me tossed off the station if I didn't leave."

Inwardly Aedan was fuming. He always hated how racist the other Council races could be, but especially when it came to the quarians. Even the non-Council races looked down on them, and for what? Because they caused their own demise when they lost control of the geth? In some ways, the quarians were treated just as badly as the krogan. Perhaps this war had been good for something—erasing old prejudices and fostering new alliances in their place.

"I wish that clerk could see you now."

"You just did. That was him back there. I don't think he remembers me."

"Wait, really?" Aedan said. "Want me to go knock some sense into him?"

Tali giggled a bit. "The thought's tempting. But no, it's all right."

Aedan was stunned. "And you're assisting him in spite of what he did?"

"This war is too big for old grudges. You showed me that; because of you, we're at peace with the geth. I can't waste my time on a turian who made me angry. Besides, it all worked out. I made it to the Wards, you found me, happy ending."

_Almost wasn't, _Aedan thought, recalling how he, Garrus, and Wrex only made it just in time to save Tali from Fist's thugs. "True. And now the turians will get the aid they desperately need."

They stayed silent for a bit, holding hands and watching the fountains before Tali spoke up. "I nearly reminded him of who I was; made him apologize, rub his nose in it. Maybe he and I both needed to grow up a little."

"The difference is that you helped when it counted."

She shook her head. "No Aedan, the difference was you."

Aedan smiled as he pulled her into an embrace, which she gratefully accepted. "Don't sell yourself short. I probably wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you."

They held each other for a few moments longer before Aedan let go. "So how about we go grab some dinner and then check out that apartment Anderson set aside?"

"Sounds good to me, I'm starving," Tali replied as they walked hand-in-hand, leaving the past behind them in favor of what they hoped would be a relaxing, normal shore leave.

* * *

_**-One Hour Later  
Citadel, Silversun Strip, Tiberius Towers**_

The entire apartment was a marvel; Aedan hadn't felt so spoiled since he first boarded the Normandy SR-2 and discovered he had a spacious Captain's Cabin.

_Now I have two apartments to choose from,_ he grinned, thinking back to the other one on Intai'sai he won at Pinnacle Station nearly three years ago. _Well, technically Garrus owns it since I gave it to him in my will, but does it still count if I didn't actually die? Hmm, I'll have to talk with him about that._

After a surprise conversation with Anderson, Aedan wandered through the different rooms, lounge, bar areas, game room, kitchen, and even a small workout area. It still hadn't sunk in that this was all his now; Anderson had bequeathed it to him since he was stuck on Earth, fighting the good fight.

_"It was supposed to be where Kahlee and I would spend our retirement,"_ he said. _"But I don't think that'll happen now with the way this war's going. I don't need it any longer, Shepard. It's yours now; take care of it for me. At least with you it'll get some use."_

A pang of guilt hit him as he thought about Earth, but he pushed the thought into the recesses of his mind. Like Hackett said, there wasn't anything else he could do right now until the fleets were ready and the _Normandy _repaired.

It still felt like he was trespassing in the home of a man who he thought of as a father, even if he did have consent.

_I wish Tali was here right now. She'd either be ecstatic, or complaining about how much room there is._

To both his and Tali's irritation, shortly after they found each other on the Presidium, her presence had been requested at a meeting of the Migrant Fleet's Admiralty Board (including Gerrel, who had recently been released from confinement after agreeing to fight the Reapers, so long as the geth stayed out of his way) over the QEC. Since retrofits hadn't started yet, Traynor allowed her to use the one on the _Normandy_. She apologized profusely and promised to catch up with him later that night.

As he wandered the upstairs area and checked out the rather large landing, his attention was drawn to the master bedroom. In particular, a familiar-looking panel on the far side of the room near the bed caught his eye as he passed the doorway.

Curious, he walked in to the sparsely-decorated, yet comfortable bedroom. He traced a finger across one of the buttons until he took a chance and pressed the green one. The doors to the bathroom, closet, and hallway all closed by themselves as mist filled the room.

_**"Decontamination in progress,"**_ the VI chimed as mist filled the room, sterilizing everything. Once finished, all doors opened again. It was only then when his omni-tool chimed with an alert. It was an automated e-mail, designed to send at a particular time.

_**Commander,**_

_**Had this installed on Anderson's request; he figured you wouldn't be spending your shore leave alone. Consider it a forward payment on all you've done for us so far.**_

_**-Hackett**_

Aedan wiped the moisture in his eyes away. _Typical Anderson; always thinking about everyone else but himself. You better stay alive until I return so I can thank you myself._

As he retrieved and stored his belongings in the closet and returned downstairs to think about what he wanted for dinner (being alone like this reminded him of his first apartment back on Arcturus Station that he'd stay at in-between deployments), he heard the private terminal in the game room chime with a new message.

_**Subject: Dinner at sushi place on me!**_

_**Hey Shepard,**_

_**I've got a few things I wanted to go over with you. With the Normandy in dry dock, I figured we could meet up at that Ryuusei sushi place down in the Wards. I hear it's the best.**_

_**-Joker**_

_I wonder why Joker would send it to this address instead of my personal one, _Aedan thought as he sent a quick message back letting Joker know he was on his way and grabbed his leather jacket off one of the couches. _Maybe Hackett or Anderson gave it to him. Oh well,_ _at least this solves my dinner issue. Sushi's not really my thing, but everyone raves about that place. At least now I'll get to see what all the fuss is about._

Sending a second, encrypted message to Tali via omni-tool with pass codes to get into the apartment (along with the promise of a special surprise waiting for her), he locked the door and waited for the elevator.

For a moment he contemplated running back in and grabbing his concealed holster, Predator (which was easier to fold up and conceal than his Carnifex) and a couple of thermal clips, but he decided against it. They were on shore leave; what was the worst that could happen in this part of the Citadel?

_Not to mention, who would be stupid enough to mess with the famous 'Commander Shepard' or his crew, especially with all that's going on? Being famous and a Spectre has its perks sometimes._

* * *

**Bad idea, Aedan. Why oh why didn't you listen to your own advice? Haha, and this brings us to the Citadel DLC events, folks. It'll become more clear what I'm going to do with the whole "anti-Shepard" arc next chapter, but needless to say I'm not going to spend exuberant amounts of time on it (unless there's a demand for me to). I wanted to focus more on the events surrounding the rest of shore leave (like, I don't know...the party!?). Hmm...maybe I'll make it a poll on my profile. Actually, I think I will. Go check it out and vote! I won't be updating this for a little while, as I'll explain in a moment.**

**Thanks as always to all the responses I've been getting, and a special thank you to **_**The Sneaky Fox**_** for taking the time to read and leave some insightful, wonderful reviews for each chapter! Do me a favor—if you love "Solace," then check out Sneaky's trilogy of Tali/Shepard stories (The Silence After, The Storm, and Echoes in the Plains)! All three are excellent, and "Echoes" has been an intense ride so far!**

**I'll do my best to make sure you guys aren't waiting too long for Chapter 12, but as I said, I have some real life issues that I need to address that will be taking time away from my writing. Plus I have to get Mission 07 of my other story, "Insurrection of the Shooting Star," out as soon as I can. It's about halfway done, so hopefully I can get that out soon, maybe update "Heart of Steel" while I'm at it, and then return to "Solace" as much as I can until the end of this fic. Thanks as always for the reviews/favs/follows, they mean the world to me! Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts.**

**-Sheik**


	12. Identity Crisis, Part I

**-Identity Crisis, Part I-**

_**-Six Days Ago  
**__**Citadel, Upper Wards**_

Tali ran as fast as her legs could carry her through the crowded streets of the Upper Wards. A few turians and a volus cursed her out with a few quarian slurs as she pushed past them, but she didn't care. Again, she accessed the _Normandy_ ground team's comm. frequency via her omni-tool as she ran. At the same time, she double-checked the signal originating from Aedan's own omni-tool.

"Aedan, it's me, come in! Do you read me?" she asked, hoping he'd answer this time.

She heard some static on the other end before Aedan's familiar warm voice answered her. _"I'm here, Tali." _

"Good," she sighed, relieved. "Where are you? Are you hurt?"

_"Don't worry, I'm fine. Not sure exactly where I am. Might need a little backup, though. Did Joker find you?"_

"I was almost to the apartment when he messaged me. Couldn't get a taxi so I'm on foot, but I should be there soon," she explained, picking up her speed as much as she could. She reached the elevator that would take her down to the Lower Wards; in particular, the lower parts of the Silversun Strip. She took a moment to catch her breath as the elevator descended.

_Good thing it's empty,_ she thought as she unfolded her customized M-27 Scimitar shotgun, just in case. Aedan would never forgive her if innocents got caught in the crossfire (nor would she forgive herself).

_"Could really use that backup soon, Tali,"_ Aedan said over the comm. as she heard what sounded like mass-accelerated weapons fire in the background.

"Just hold on, I'm on an elevator coming down to your level," she replied.

_"Understood. Did you alert the rest of the crew?"_

"I forwarded Joker's message to the others. Do you know who's after you?"

_"Yeah, mercs with guns, and they don't like me! What else is new?"_

"That doesn't narrow it down much," Tali said dryly.

_"—Umm...excuse me? Who is this?"_ said another feminine voice that Tali didn't recognize. _"You're on an unsecured channel and right now, you're putting Commander Shepard's life in danger!"_

"What? Who is this?!" she demanded.

_"Calm down, Tali. Joker mentioned a Staff Analyst Maya Brooks, yes? That's her."_

"What!?" Tali exclaimed. Normally she wasn't the jealous type, but the thought of Aedan in the middle of a fight with some tight-assed hussy dressed in a bodysuit like Miranda got her blood boiling.

"Staff Analyst Brooks, huh? Is she with you, Aedan?!"

_"What? No! I mean—"_

_"Didn't I tell you to stay off this channel?" _the man-stealing Alliance witch interrupted._ "Commander Shepard's communications have been hacked! You could be leading them right to him at this very moment!"_

"I can talk to him whenever I want, you obnoxious _bosh'tet_! And if that's true, then how come _you_ can talk to him, hmm? He's taken, you know!"

_"Hang on, everyone play nice!" _Aedan ordered.

Before Tali could protest, someone else cut her off. _"Garrus here. Heard you're in trouble again, Shepard. I contacted the others. We're all heading your way."_

_"Good to hear. Things are a little dicey right now."_

_"Heh, wouldn't have it any other way, boss."_

_"Seriously!?"_ Brooks yelled. _"Are you all mental or something? There are people with guns out there, looking to kill your commander, and you're all talking about it as if it's a daily occurrence!"_

_"Hang around us long enough, lady, and it becomes one,"_ Garrus deadpanned.

_"Cut the chatter, you're all giving me a headache,"_ Aedan said, shifting to "Commander" mode again._ "Tali, Garrus— C-Sec's locked down the area, so be careful. There's a landing pad at a place called Cision Motors, across from my current position. I'm gonna find a way to override the lockdown so I can extend the walkway. Meet me there if you can."_

_"Roger that."_

"Got it," Tali said as the elevator doors opened. She accessed a search engine on the extranet to find out where Cision Motors was when she heard what sounded like an alarm followed by several explosives detonating all at once from below her.

"Keelah, what's going on?! I heard that from here!"

_"Nothing, it's all under control." _

_"Um, was that some kind of alarm you just triggered_?" Garrus chimed in. _"Because we—I mean, I, have more hostiles to deal with now before I can reach your sorry ass."_

_"Just thought I'd make things more interesting, Vakarian."_

_"Of course you did,"_ Garrus grumbled as Tali heard weapons fire in the background from his end followed by the crack of a sniper rifle_. "Scratch one!"_

"And who's 'we,' Garrus? I thought you were running errands for Victus today. Did you bring a friend?" Tali asked.

_"No, I—"_ Garrus paused for a moment. _"No, the thermal clip release is _here_, not there! Wait, here! Let me show you how to pop the heat sink, Chloe—"_

_Chloe?_ Tali thought. _Why does that name sound so familiar?_

_"Um, Garrus? Is there something you want to tell us?" _Aedan asked.

_"Again, I must really insist you all stay off the comm—" _

_"—it's fine, Brooks_," Aedan cut her off. _"Never mind. I'm going radio silent unless I run into more trouble."_

Tali's omni-tool pinged with a new message. To her relief, it was the exact coordinates of Cision Motors. "I'm almost there, Aedan. Brooks just sent me the NavPoint data for the skycar lot. Be careful!"

_"Always am."_

She rolled her eyes as she continued running, ignoring the civilians who protested around her. _Sure, I mean it's not like you run at Reapers head-on with targeting lasers or anything..._

* * *

Not only were his clothes and shoes still soaking wet, but Aedan's entire right shoulder felt like it was on fire. Performing insane stunts like falling through a sushi restaurant's fancy fish tank and surviving was much more painful without armor to break your fall.

_Thank God for portable shield generators,_ he thought. He carried it on him at all times out of habit. Without it, he would likely be dead right now. Well, for the second time that is.

He stepped over the bodies of fallen mercs as he ran past a strip of abandoned store fronts (he still had absolutely no idea what organization was after his hide. None of them wore any kind of insignia. They were human, so that ruled out the Blood Pack, and they definitely weren't Eclipse or Blue Suns. Not to mention Aria had each of the big three under her control now). If anything, these bastards reminded him of Cerberus Assault Troopers more than anything. They even had snipers reminiscent of their deadly Nemesis troops. Despite that, they definitely weren't Cerberus; they'd have white, black, and gold symbols plastered all over their armor if they were.

How could everything go from fine to utter shit in the span of twenty minutes or so? First Joker is telling him that he received a similarly-worded message from Aedan that he didn't send, then a clearly-incompetent Alliance Staff Analyst arrives to tell him he's being targeted. Finally, the next thing he knows, armed mercs burst through the doors hunting for him and shooting up the place, Brooks is shot, and he's falling through a fish tank.

He grimaced as he remembered that part. _Those poor fish..._

Aside from his omni-tool (which included his cloaking program and a few other tricks), Aedan's only weapons were a few sticky grenades and a pistol he found on the first merc he killed. It looked like a Carnifex, but it was stained black and customized with a suppressor. The targeting was a bit off on it and it didn't do quite as much damage as his own Carnifex, but it still packed a punch. Unfortunately, ammo types were a no-go also since that was a feature tied exclusively to his armor.

Wary of more snipers, he darted in-between advertisements and pillars, keeping as low as he could. Department stores with names like "Goddess Essentials" and "Van Allen Belts" lined the strip mall, the names all embodied in vibrant, enticing shades of gold and pink neon lights. He ignored the news reports about "gunfire in the Silversun Strip" as he moved from cover to cover.

_"There's Shepard! Open fire!"_

Aedan took cover as assault rifle fire pelted the area around him. He rolled behind a pillar, ducking as low as he could while he waited for a break in their fire. Activating his cloak, he found one merc in his sights and planted two rounds perfectly through the forehead of his helmet. He fired an Incinerate blast at another, taking him down with another two shots before darting back into cover as his cloak failed.

_"Argh! Goddamn it!"_ one of the mercs howled. _"Reinforce the front line; pin him down!"_

_I don't think so,_ he thought as his omni-tool's recharge light turned green again. Without hesitation he activated his cloak again, making a run for another pillar as the one he was behind was blasted by a volley of grenades. Sighting three mercs close together, he armed and threw a sticky grenade at the one in the center. All three turned smoldering splats of meat and charred armor.

Grimacing from the grisly sight, Aedan fired again and hit another merc in the shoulder. It was then when Lady Luck decided to fail him when he felt his shields give out. Another one of those damn drones had snuck up on him and unleashed an EMP blast. A stray bullet nicked his right shoulder as he ducked down.

Hissing from the burn, he ejected the spent thermal clip and took another out of his now-ruined (and smoking) leather N7 jacket. _Son of a bitch...it was my favorite one, too!_

Once there was a break in their fire, he took a chance and re-activated the cloak. Seeing only one more, he sneaked up and impaled him from behind with the omni-blade. Sputtering and choking, the merc collapsed to the ground, shaking before finally going still.

_"Commander! There's a C-Sec shuttle inbound if you can get to the skycar lot."_

"Got it, thanks Brooks," Aedan said as he stepped around the body of his latest kill, rubbing his shoulder. None of the mercs had medi-gel on them; apparently none of them expected one man to kill them all with just a pistol. How he missed his N7 armor and its automatic medi-gel dispenser.

_"Okay. Brooks over...no out. Brooks out! Or over and out. Brooks...oh damn it!"_

Aedan rolled his eyes. As if this night couldn't become even more ridiculous than it already was, he had to deal with a ditzy Data Analyst.

Luckily, he glanced up and found himself right at the entrance to Cision Motors. Taking care that there weren't any more mercs lurking around, he accessed the door behind the counter.

Immediately he heard gunfire to his left. Through the windowpane, he could see a couple of mercs firing on someone hiding behind a skycar. Without thinking, he ran toward the window and slid the door open. Right as he brought the pistol to bear, the mercs screamed as their omni-tools overloaded. He saw Tali jump out from behind cover. Within seconds, both mercs were blasted backwards off their feet as she ran at them. When she saw Aedan, she jogged over to him, cradling her treasured Scimitar.

"Aedan, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Better now that you're here," he grinned.

Tali shook her head in mock-annoyance. "Honestly, I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you getting yourself into some kind of trouble."

"You know you love it, sweetheart," he tried to grin again, but grit his teeth instead as his right shoulder started to bother him again. He was relieved when Tali took a pack of medi-gel out of her suit and applied it immediately. The soothing sensation calmed his irritated shoulder until it was numb.

"Better?"

"Lots. Thanks," he smiled. "Where's the landing pad?"

"Right over there, but it's behind a locked gate."

"Okay then, let's look for a control panel," Aedan said as he started to look around, Tali walking next to him.

"So...you really fell through a fish tank?" she asked.

"We'll talk about it later."

"Do you remember back when you used to rescue me in the Wards?"

"We'll talk about it _later_."

"Does this 'Brooks' know you already have a bondmate?"

"Tali!" Aedan groaned as Tali giggled. "You know it's not like that. I'm a one-quarian kind of guy. Plus, she's a total ditz. I pity the one who gets her."

"Definitely," she said. "And don't worry, I trust you. Just as long as she knows I have a shotgun, I'm good."

Aedan laughed a bit at that one as they walked. The couple spent a few moments taking in the luxurious showroom, looking high and low for a switch of some sort before they finally tried one of the sales offices. The door immediately locked down when Aedan tried it.

"Stand back," Aedan ordered as he prepared to shoot the lock.

"Wait," Tali said, reaching out with a hand and lowering his pistol. Curious, he watched her walk to the window next to the door. She tapped it a few times.

"Excuse me? Could you please open the gate?"

There was a pause before Aedan heard the doors open behind them.

"Thank you," Tali said to the window as she walked away, inclining her head at Aedan as she walked by. He could tell she was smirking behind her visor. _Showoff._

"Well I could have done that," he said.

"Sometimes all you need is a woman's touch," she said, swaying her hips back and forth for him as she walked. Though he should technically be in "Commander" mode right now, Aedan couldn't help but be mesmerized yet again by how amazing his girlfriend was.

"See something you like?" Tali asked coyly, turning back to him.

"You know it," Aedan grinned. "But later. Right now we need to get out of here."

Tali nodded as they casually walked to the landing pad, keeping their weapons drawn just in case. Right as they reached the platform, Aedan saw a Kodiak with C-Sec markings lower toward them. _Finally, late as usual._

His relief quickly turned to shock when instead of turians and humans in uniform, he saw more mercs pop up behind the door. Recognizing a Geth Spitfire when he saw one (having seen many of them on Rannoch), he instinctively grabbed Tali by the arms, shielded her with his body, and threw them both behind cover. Where they were just standing quickly turned into a smoking crater in the smooth tile floor as the Spitfire laid waste to the platform with plasma fire.

"You okay?" Aedan asked. Tali simply nodded as they stayed crouched behind cover. The sound of shattered glass above them drew their attention as a krogan-shaped shadow plummeted to the Kodiak, body slamming the hood with a roar. The transport sputtered and fought to stay in the air as Aedan watched the crimson-armored krogan jump in the back. The other side of the Kodiak opened as mercs plummeted out of it. Finally, the Kodiak landed in a flaming heap as the rest of the mercs were mercilessly punched and head butted to the ground.

Aedan was relieved when their savior walked out of the wreckage and revealed himself as a grinning Urdnot Wrex.

"Wrex? What are you doing here?" Aedan asked in disbelief.

"Ah, was just butting heads with the Council over krogan expansion. Heard you were in a jam," he said absent-mindedly as he rummaged through the pile of corpses, acting like he was merely talking about the weather. Snagging the Spitfire, he tossed it to Aedan as he walked by, pulling out his Claymore shotgun.

"Nice entrance," Aedan quipped.

"Bet you've never seen a krogan do that before," Wrex chortled. "I still got it."

Glass shattering on the other side of the room caught their attention as even more mercs rappelled into the dealership.

_"Kill 'em all!"_ one of them cried as they fired their assault rifles.

Tali and Aedan ducked behind a raised platform while Wrex fired his Claymore, taking out any mercs who got too close.

"So, Shepard? We got a way out of here?" Wrex asked as he reloaded.

"Of course we do, Wrex. I'm a professional!" he joked.

"That's not a yes."

"It's not a no, either."

Wrex simply sighed and muttered something about "crazy humans" as he rushed into the crowd of mercs, pummeling every single one that got in his way. Some screamed as they came face-to-face with a charging Krogan Battlemaster.

Their comms crackled to life. _"Commander?"_

"Joker, that you?" Aedan asked as he fired the Spitfire at a few mercs sneaking up behind Wrex. "We lost our ride, where are you?"

_"Almost there. Picked up Brooks on the way, figured you had a few questions."_

"Good call."

"Haha! Good to be back, yeah!" Wrex cheered as he ran over two mercs at the same time and killed another with his Claymore, blowing his head open like a watermelon. "Great place to fight in; lots to destroy!"

Aedan watched in both admiration and horror as Wrex turned more and more skycars into flaming deathtraps. He could only imagine what the poor volus owner he spotted earlier from across the walkway was thinking as his entire stock of luxury skycars was annihilated. He made a mental note to send a couple thousand credits from his Alliance accounts as penance later.

_"Commander, are you okay? Did C-Sec find you?"_ Brooks asked.

"No, mercs in a C-Sec shuttle did."

_"What!? But how?"_

"Little busy right now!" Aedan yelled as he and Tali took out more approaching mercs.

_"Right, we'll be there soon!"_

The free-for-all seemed like it went on for hours. Aedan ran out of juice for the Spitfire as he switched to the stolen pistol while Tali resorted to disabling random merc's shields to make life easier for Wrex. Speaking of Wrex, he was having the time of his life, laughing as he bashed more heads together as his thick shields and krogan armor took a beating.

"Hah! Where do you think you're going, princess?" Wrex yelled as he grabbed a fleeing merc, throwing him into the others. "Uncle Urdnot isn't done with you!"

"Remind me never to go into politics after the war if this is what it does to you," he told Tali as she laughed.

_"Approaching your location Commander, just following the gunfire! Sorry I'm late, had to take the scenic route," _Joker said.

_"Scenic route?"_ Brooks added. _"We nearly crashed four times! Where the hell did you learn to drive?!"_

_"Oh, and Brooks says hi."_

"Fine, just land! We can't last much longer," Aedan said over the gunfire. A few moments later, another Kodiak landed next to the one Wrex took out.

_"We're here, climb aboard!"_ Joker yelled.

Grabbing Tali by the hand, they both rushed to the Kodiak while Wrex laid down suppressing fire for them. He jumped in right behind the others as the door shut. Mass-accelerated rounds bounced off the armored exterior but lessened as Joker pulled away and left the ruined dealership behind.

* * *

Aedan breathed a sigh of relief as he took a seat with Tali, still holding her hand. Wrex took the opportunity to walk to the cockpit and give Joker a hard time. Aedan couldn't remember the last time he saw Wrex so giddy.

"You okay, Shepard?" Garrus asked across from him. He gave his XO a thumbs-up, but was shocked to see who sat next to him, smiling and looking him over for any glaring injuries.

"I'm glad we reached you in time," the familiar, red-headed woman asked in an accented voice. Though she wore a casual set of jeans, sneakers, an aqua tank top and a white sports jacket over it instead of scrubs, Aedan would recognize her anywhere. She had a folded pistol that looked suspiciously like Garrus' emergency backup clipped to her belt.

"Dr Michel, good to see you," Aedan smiled, looking between her and a clearly-uncomfortable Garrus. "I'm a little surprised, though. Did you run into her, Garrus?"

"Uhh, yeah! You know, it was the strangest thing. I was on my way to you and ran into her by the hospital. She insisted on coming along when she heard—"

"Oh stop it, Garrus," she said as she hit him playfully on the shoulder. "You can tell the commander. I don't mind."

"Tell him what?" Tali asked, though Aedan could tell she easily put two-and-two together by the way they were subtly holding hands. Making Garrus uncomfortable when she could was one of her favorite pastimes, after all. _So that's why that name sounded so familiar!_

"Ahem," Garrus coughed. "Well, what Chlo—I mean, Dr. Michel is trying to say is—"

"—is that we've been together for quite awhile now. Honestly Garrus, I don't see what the big deal is if they know."

"There are still some people out there who might recognize me as Archangel. You could be targeted to get to me."

"That's bullshit and you know it, Garrus," Aedan laughed. "So this is why you've been so secretive lately when we get some shore leave time on the Citadel. The mood swings, the random assignments...it all fits."

"Seriously though, we're happy for you both," Tali said, squeezing Aedan's hand lightly as he returned it. "Though now I know why you sent him turian chocolate, Chloe."

She blushed, playing with her hair. "He did say it was his favorite."

"What's going on back here?" Wrex asked before he saw Dr. Michel holding Garrus' hand. He grinned like a predator.

"Aww...little baby pyjack is all grown-up! Brings a tear to these old eyes of mine."

"Can it, Wrex," Garrus muttered as everyone else howled with laughter.

* * *

_**-One Hour Later  
Silversun Strip, Tiberius Towers**_

The steam felt incredible against Aedan's skin as he washed the grime and filtered water off his bare skin. Though the Jacuzzi looked incredibly tempting (especially if Tali decided to take a dip with him later), a hot shower was what he really desired.

The entire _Normandy_ ground crew was at the apartment. The sight of all of his friends both old and new coming out to support him both humbled and touched him. Not since the days on the SR-1 did he truly feel close to his crew that he thought of each member like family. Not to say former members of the SR-2, like Jack and Kasumi, weren't friends also. He thought of all members both current and former as family of some sort. But that same level of camaraderie that was present in the hunt for Saren still eluded him when he worked with Cerberus. That is, until now.

While the others waited, Liara and Brooks joined forces to run a trace on mercenary groups that used weapons like the pistol Aedan found and to see if the same mysterious thief tried to access Aedan's records or accounts. It led them to a casino owner named Elijah Kahn and an interesting conversation he had with the thief, who used an ID disguiser. The mercenaries themselves went by the name "CAT6;" a play on a nickname used for Alliance dishonorable discharges. Their ranks were full of druggies and other lowlifes, which explained their amateur combat skills.

Khan didn't sound too pleased about the deal he made with their attacker and the media coverage the mercs had churned up; Aedan hoped to use that to their advantage. Fortunately, Silver Coast Casino was hosting a charity ball to benefit refugees from the Reaper War. That ball was their ticket in.

To avoid gathering too much attention from a single couple (and to cover more ground), the group chose Aedan and Tali, Garrus and Dr. Michel (with her insistence), and Wrex and Liara as the ones to attend the ball, while Brooks used the air vents to infiltrate Khan's panic room. In the meantime, Steve and James would fly to the _Normandy_ and pick up the team's armor and weapons from the cargo bay while the rest stayed at the apartment. For some reason, Kaiden didn't appear too happy that Liara was going with Wrex, but of course he wouldn't dare voice it aloud.

_Really? First Dr. Michel and Garrus, now Kaiden and Liara? What is this turning into, the "Love Boat?"_

Rinsing the conditioner out of his hair, Aedan turned off the water and grabbed a towel off the rack next to the shower. Patting himself down and wrapping it around his waist, he stepped out of the bathroom and to the expansive closet next door, complete with its own workbench and armor station. Sifting through his meager collection of civvies that were hung up neatly on the clothes rack, he finally found what he was looking for —the tux Kasumi had given him for Donovan Hock's party, dry-cleaned and ready to go.

After stripping off the towel and dressing, he was fixing his hair with some gel when a knock at the door interrupted him.

"Shepard? Got a moment?"

"Sure, Garrus," Aedan said as the turian walked in, dressed in a tux of his own but still wearing his trademark eyepiece. "Those your dress blues? I half-expected you to wear your armor underneath," he joked.

"I tried, believe me. Still feel naked in this, but Chloe likes it at least. It's the downside of a militaristic culture. Humans have us beat in variety of formal wear."

"Speaking of Chloe, I still can't believe you didn't tell me this morning, buddy. You know I wouldn't have judged you," Aedan said as he finished, fixing his cuffs as he faced his friend. "So...how long?"

"How long...what?"

"How long have you been going out?"

"Oh!" Garrus said. "Since your trial on Earth. I stopped by the Citadel before returning to Palaven to visit. We reconnected, and well...we kept in touch the whole time I was on Palaven, drumming up support with my task force. She helped me work up the courage to tell my father everything about the Reapers. It hasn't been easy, but we're making this thing work."

"I'm surprised she wants to come along, not that I have a problem with it or anything."

"She's as stubborn as you," he laughed. "Insisted on using my pistol when we were fighting those mercs. She's not a bad shot, either. Guess that run-in with Fist's thugs inspired her to put some time in the range."

"Don't blame her. Anyway, what do you need? Did Tali send you to get me?"

"No, she and the girls are still getting ready," he said. "I actually wanted your, um...advice, on something. You're the only one I'd feel comfortable asking about this."

_This should be good, _Aedan thought. "Okay, then. Shoot."

"Shoot? Shoot what? My Mantis is downstairs."

Aedan slapped his palm to his forehead. "No, no. It's a human saying. It means 'go ahead,' or 'ask away.'"

"You humans and your ridiculous sayings," Garrus shook his head. "Well...how should I put this? Um...do you remember when I told you about my little game of 'reach and flexibility?'"

Aedan smirked, remembering their talks in the Main Battery during the Collector mission. "Hard to forget something like that. What about it?"

"Uhh," Garrus said, rubbing his fringe with a talon absentmindedly. "Well, let's just say, um...hypothetically, of course, that I wanted to play that same game with a human."

"I'm honored you asked Garrus, but I don't swing that way," he joked.

"Cut the crap asshole," Garrus chucked, punching his friend's arm. "You know what I mean."

"And why are you asking me again? Right before a mission, at that?"

"I wasn't sure when I'd get a chance to ask when we weren't with the others. Plus, you have experience. I mean, you've been with human women before Tali, right?"

Aedan gave him a look as if to say "are you serious right now?" but finally acquiesced."From what I've learned aside from the amino acid thing, the anatomy isn't too different. Unless turians have certain, um...things, that I'm not aware of?"

"I don't need help with that part! I mean, like, how do I set the mood? You know, get her relaxed and into it? I'm not too great at that sort of thing."

"So that's what you mean," Aedan laughed, glad things weren't nearly as awkward as before. "It depends on what kind of woman Chloe is. I mean, does she like music? Movies? Candles? Things like that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Then that's what you need to find out. Take her out to a nice dinner, buy some wine, talk to her more in private, just the two of you. See how things go, then make your move."

"Hmm...I see," Garrus nodded.

"And don't forget—listen to her. We girls love it when a man listens," said a filtered voice from the doorway. When he saw who it was, Aedan's eyes widened a large as saucers.

Tali had changed every single fabric of her suit to a shimmering white, including her shawl. The same clan markings adorned each piece of fabric, but stitched in gold. To some people it might not have appeared like a huge change, but to Aedan it was jaw-dropping.

"You clean up nice, Tali. I'm almost jealous of this guy," Garrus said, elbowing Aedan. Her eyes lit up with a smile as her boyfriend regained his senses.

"Thanks Garrus," she said. "You look handsome as well. Which reminds me, Chloe was looking for you."

"Oh right," Garrus said as he walked past her. "Thanks for the talk, Shepard."

"Anytime, Garrus. Remember, if nothing else...ask her how you got those scars. That'll turn her on."

He gave the turian equivalent of a smirk as he left, though Aedan's eyes were still fixed on Tali. She walked over to him, fixing the collar of his tux before running her fingers delicately around his shoulders.

"Looking good, Aedan. You should dress like this more often," she murmured. "Where did you get this?"

"Kasumi," Aedan said. "I wore it when I helped her out on Bekenstein."

"It's way better looking than your dress blues," she remarked.

"Feels a little light without body armor...but it's soft to the touch," he grinned.

"Good to know," she purred. "Speaking of dressing up and fancy places, I have a bone to pick with you."

"Oh?" Aedan asked. She let go of him and paced around the room.

"Back during my Pilgrimage, I used to walk around near that sushi place and watch the fish through the window. I knew they'd never let me inside, but I'd think to myself, someday, when I've proven my worth to the galaxy, I'll go there for dinner," she finished before staring at him. "And then you broke their floor."

"Jeez, not you too," Aedan groaned, rubbing a hand through his hair. "I told you, one of those mercs shot it, not me. And I'm fine, by the way."

"Glad to hear it. Try not to destroy any more of my childhood memories," she said seriously, though the way her eyes were alight told Aedan she was joking.

"Tell you what. When this is all over, I'll take you out to a fancy restaurant dressed like this. My treat."

"That might not be enough to change my mind."

"How about this, then?" he asked as he shut the door, locking it behind him. Before she could ask what was going on, he pressed a panel by the bed.

_**Decontamination in progress,**_ the VI announced. Tali bounced on her toes as the familiar process finished. Overjoyed, she took off her visor and launched herself at Aedan, entrapping him in a kiss. Needless to say, he didn't protest. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he ran his hands through her curly black locks, their tongues fighting for dominance.

When they finally broke apart, Tali had a smile on her gorgeous face a mile wide.

"How about now?" he whispered huskily, bringing her forehead to his. "Forgive me?"

"I suppose," she said, kissing his lips again. "Plus you _are_ taking me out on the town tonight, even if it's a triple date and a mission. But I have to know, how did you get this installed?"

"Anderson and Hackett," Aedan explained. "Think of it as a small down payment on all the galaxy owes us. Actually, this entire apartment is ours now."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Aedan smiled ruefully, moisture gathering in his eyes.

"Hey," she whispered, caressing his cheek. "They want you to enjoy it, especially with how stressful this war's been on you. You deserve happiness just as much as anyone else."

"I know," Aedan said softly. "As long as your here, I'll manage."

Tali smiled again and went for another kiss when a knock at the door interrupted them.

_"Hey, Commander? Yeah I hate to interrupt whatever bizarre ritual you and Tali got going on in there, but we're all waiting on you two."  
_

"We'll be down in a minute, Joker," Aedan yelled as he heard the _Normandy_ pilot limp back downstairs.

"Guess we'll have to finish this another time," Aedan sighed.

"I hate this suit," Tali complained as she picked up her visor. "I can't wait for the day when I can stay out of it full-time. Maybe then I can wear a real dress like Liara and Chloe."

"You're still more beautiful to me than both of them combined, even in your suit," Aedan said. "Besides, after the war, we'll have all the time in the world. Just remind me to build a huge closet for you on Rannoch." Tali grinned as she shared one last, bittersweet kiss with him before she placed the visor back over her face. When she was ready, Aedan unlocked the door the door.

Looping her arm through his, they walked down the stairs like a ballroom couple, smiling as their friends greeted them with wolf-whistles and hollers. Though he was enjoying the time spent with his friends, the mission still weighed heavily in the back in his mind.

_Who would want access to my accounts now of all times? We're at war!_

* * *

_**Guest:**_** Thank you very much, glad you're enjoying it! Yup, those in-between moments are part of what inspired this story in the first place!**

**Yeah...I know I said I'd take longer. But I couldn't help myself; the creative juices are flowing and I'm coming up with ideas for this part of the story left and right! And wow, that chapter turned out longer than I thought. But man, was it fun to write! Believe it or not, I'm actually doing another run-through of this DLC as I'm writing this, which is making things ten times easier. Thank you for all the feedback I've gotten since last chapter, it's really helped!**

**To those of you who guessed Dr. Michel as Garrus' love interest back in Chapter 7, kudos and free cookies to you! You're right! **

**Also, I have a question for you guys. Lately, while I've been re-playing parts of ME3 with Aedan (yes, I do have a custom Shepard named Aedan who inspired this fic, except that his hair's a bit longer in the story than in the game), I've also been taking screenshots in the cutscenes (especially in Tali/Shepard moments). I'm curious; if I created an account on PhotoBucket or a similar site, would you guys be interested in seeing these pics? If you'd rather keep the image of Aedan you've created in your head, I'll understand. But I just thought it'd be a fun little thing to do. I'd also post story covers on there as well from my other stories and have the link in my new profile (that is, whenever I get around to creating it...). Anyway, let me know in a review and I'll decide in a couple chapters or so. **

**Not much else to say other than expect more action, humor, and fluff galore as we uncover who is behind this elaborate plot to steal Aedan's identity and Spectre status. Thanks for reading and following/faving, and please review to let me know what you think!**

**-Sheik**

**UPDATE (9-3): Made a few grammar changes and took out some unnecessary descriptions that take readers out of the story (sorry about that, still learning how to avoid it!). I might make a few additional edits if I feel they're necessary, but nothing drastic. Special thanks to _The Sneaky Fox_ and_ kill-phil_ for their help!**


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